View from City Road: Forte standing firm in the midst of battle

For a slice of sophisticated prose worthy of The Mikado it would be hard to beat the holding statement issued by the Savoy Hotel yesterday. After one more set-to in a series of strained board meetings between the incumbent management and a deeply frustrated Rocco Forte, the message is that the current truce is being prolonged.

Mr Forte has the unenviable task of making sense of his company's failed bid for control of the Savoy in 1981 which left it with 68 per cent of the shares but only 42 per cent of the votes because of the Savoy's two classes of shares.

In the end Forte, which has lost the Ciga luxury hotels chain and could be losing Air France's Meridien hotels, may simply have to pay up for control.