Following a relatively disappointing year of trading and a lacklustre share price performance, intellectual property group Chorion is to sell Noddy, The Famous Five and its other children's rights interests 'to maximise' shareholder value. Chorion's directors expect the assets to fetch £30m, an indication of their belief that the entire company (whose assets include a majority interest in the Agatha Christie and Georges Simenon rights) is undervalued. At the current 3.25p - down from its original price of 11p when it demerged from Urbium earlier this year - Chorion is valued at just £16.82m. According to director Nick Tamblyn, the stock market's perception of the company is very much at odds with the progress that has been achieved and the underlying asset base. He says that although the group had previously warned that it would not meet its profits targets for the year because of various project delays and bad debts, a new Noddy video sold 23,762 units in its first week of sale, while a Noddy morning TV show is attracting strong viewing figures. As for the rest of the business, three Poirot movies will be delivered by Chorion's adult division in 2003 and other film projects are also being advanced. If and when the sale of Noddy et al is completed, many analysts expect the group to return a proportion of the cash to investors in the form of a special dividend. The rest will most probably be devoted to acquiring other interests to bolster the adult intellectual property. Hold/buy.