THE chief financial watchdog yesterday imposed its first fine on the director of a listed company when it found the former chief executive of Sportsworld Media Group guilty of failing to issue a profits warning in time.

The fine will serve as a warning to other company directors that the Financial Services Authority is prepared to be tough on directors who fail in their fiduciary duties.

The FSA levied a £45,000 fine on Geoffrey Brown.

The watchdog also publicly censured the now defunct advertising and television production firm, which part-owned the rights to the Popstars television series.

Andrew Procter, the FSA’s director of enforcement, said: “The FSA has found that Sportsworld breached the listing rules by failing to notify the market of changes in its business performance and expectations as to its pre-tax profit until 28 January, 2002, despite having been aware of the situation since 24 December 2001.

“Mr Brown, as chief executive, was responsible for ensuring Sportsworld observed the Listing Rules. Mr Brown and Sportsworld’s failure to inform investors and other market participants of changes in its performance and expectations as to performance without delay, and not a month later, could have caused investors to make decisions based on inaccurate information.”

The share price of Sportsworld crashed after the profits warning and the company went into administrative receivership in April 2002.

The FSA added that it would have imposed a “substantial financial penalty” on Sportsworld if the company had had any money left.

Mr Brown, who has 14 days to pay his fine, has not appealed. He was paid a total of £350,000 in 2001, Sportsworld’s last full year.

The FSA is adopting an increasingly hardline approach to mis-selling scandals and market abuse. In February it launched its first criminal prosecution against market abuse in a move that could result in three former directors of AIT, the AIM-listed software group, serving lengthy jail sentences.

In a separate development, Flowfood, a fruit and vegetable processing company, has been hit with Britain’s first fine for failing to provide employees with a stakeholder pension scheme. The Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority upheld a £10,000 fine.