THE skills needed to run a large and growing business are very

different from those required to set up a business in the first place.

This has led to many entrepreneurs parting company with the business.

Dev Pritchard of Takare is the latest casualty.

As co-founder and managing director of Takare, he has seen the listing

of the company on the London Stock Exchange and the growth of the

business from a company employing 900 to around 7000 at the current

time.

Mr Pritchard is thought to have felt stifled by the constraints of

running a public company and the board has decided that it is in the

best interests of the group that he resign from his post as managing

director although he remains a non-executive director of the group.

A compensation package for Mr Pritchard, who has a 10% stake in the

company, is being worked out. He is on a one-year rolling contract for

which he received an annual salary of #125,000 plus benefits.

Commenting on the sacking of Mr Pritchard, Hamilton Anstead,

deputy-managing director who is taking over Mr Pritchard's job, said:

''It is a sad day for the company in many ways.''

The introduction of the Community Care Act last April led to much

uncertainty about how the new arrangements for chronic care would work.

However, Takare was largely unaffected with occupancy rates in its homes

slipping by just 1% to 97%.

Profit before tax in the year to end-December 1993 grew by 26% to

#14.9m. Earnings per share increased by 19% to 13.7p and the dividend

was raised by 20% to 2.07p after a final shareholders' payment of 1.4p.

Despite already being the UK's largest private nursing homes group,

Takare sees scope for expansion particularly in South-east England. In

November it successfully raised #68m through a rights issue, the

proceeds of which are to be used to expand the business. The company

ended the year with 6630 beds in operation or under construction.

Since the year-end Takare's presence in Scotland has increased with

the opening of a 150-bed home at Yoker, with half the beds having

already been sold. Construction is currently under way on a 90-bed home

at Wishaw and planning permission is being sought on two further sites

in Scotland. A total of 1500-1800 new beds are expected to commence

nationwide in the current year.

Although the number of beds in operation should increase for some

time, the growth rate for earnings may not be as high as in the past but

earnings growth well into double digits can be expected. The company's

above-average rate of return and healthy prospects for the future

supports the share price.

Since the rights issue Takare's share price has risen from 232p to

267p yesterday. At this price the shares yield just under 1%. For the

current year the group should increase profits to about #22m.