The venture capital company had bought it from John Menzies in 2001 after paying £21m and taking on £9m of debt.Chelsea Stores Holdings also owns Daisy and Tom, a children’s retailer that was started by Mr Waterstone in 1997.Despite the improved figures, no dividend was paid The previous year saw a £1.3m payout.. He eventually sold the business, now part of HMV, and recently failed in a bid to buy it back.He and Nigel Robertson, a former joint managing director of online retailer Ocado, acquired Early Learning Centre two years ago for £62m from its management and 3i. Although many retailers are complaining of tough conditions on the high street, annual pre-tax profits rose from £3.5m to £9.9m, while turnover increased to £178m, up from £174m.
The Early Learning Centre – which sells, distributes and designs toys aimed at children from birth to six years old, and has a chain of more than 200 shops – is part of Chelsea Stores Holdings, in which chairman Tim Waterstone has a stake of around 10 per cent.Mr Waterstone is best known for the chain of bookshops that he founded in 1982. The Early Learning Centre, the educational toys chain, has nearly trebled its profits, according to accounts just filed at Companies House.

As the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, arrived in Israel for talks, her former British counterpart, Mr Straw, bitterly condemned Israeli military tactics, saying they risked destroying the Lebanese government.. The Cabinet revolt against Tony Blair intensified last night as Jack Straw broke ranks to condemn Israel for causing “death and misery to innocent civilians”. A rally in support of warlord-turned-presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba last Thursday turned violent after an arson attack on one of his campaign buildings, with up to seven people reported killed in the chaos.The polls open from 6am to 5pm today, amid fears that it will be impossible for all 25 million voters to cast their ballots in the time allowed Foreign observers believe voting may not end until Tuesday.. Foja mountains, New Guinea: Pristine rainforest habitat full of new species, virtually untrod by humansSimon Calder. An unmanned EU drone crashed yesterday in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, injuring five and setting a house on fire as the country prepared for the first democratic vote in over 40 years. Some 1,500 EU troops are in the region alongside more than 17,000 UN soldiers – the largest peacekeeping force in the world.
The drone, sent to monitor today’s vote, was on a test flight when it went out of control, said a statement by peacekeepers.Much is at stake in the presidential and parliamentary elections, which come after more than a century of brutal colonial rule, dictatorship and civil war; but the month-long campaign has been marred by violence between demonstrators and riot police as well as shootings in the violent eastern regions.In Kinshasa, rallies by the main opposition party, the UDPS, which is boycotting the election, have been broken up by riot police.

Antarctica: Fragile ecosystem is being damaged by increase in visiting ships2. Machu Picchu, Peru: Inca city risks being lost again as tourists’ feet erode mountainside3. Tibet: Campaigners say new railway threatens Tibetan culture and wildlife4. Bimini, Bahamas: Giant resort development damages environment and local way of life, according to Tourism Concern5. “The Indian authorities have failed to protect the Jarawa and their land from this onslaught. “The Andaman islands are home to some of the world’s most isolated and vulnerable tribes,” said Fiona Watson of Survival International, an international NGO that seeks to support tribal people’s rights.Tourism might not harm some of the Andamans’ tribal peoples, like the Sentinelese, who refuse any contact with the outside world, and the Nicobarese, who live integrated into modern Indian society, but Ms Watson singles out the Jarawa, who live near the main tourist resorts.”The Jarawa are suffering from increasing invasion of their land by poachers and settlers, who bring disease and violence and hunt their game animals,” she said.

There are also fears over what an increase in tourism could mean for the indigenous people. For many inhabitants it would be a dream come true if the Andamans become the next fashionable winter destination.But environmentalists are warning that for the islands’ delicate corals, most of which survived the tsunami, it could be a nightmare. “For the ultimate island retreat, the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal are truly unrivalled.” But while the archipelago fulfils all the requirements of a tropical paradise, with coral white beaches, palm trees and even an active volcano on Barren Island, on North Sentinel Island the indigenous tribal people attack trespassers with bows and arrows.
The last time the Andamans caught the attention of the outside world was in the wake of the 2004 tsunami, which devastated several of the islands and killed thousands of their people. Eighteen months on, the territory is still struggling to rebuild, and thousands remain homeless.The Indian government says the islands’ economy badly needs a boost from tourism, and has even been offering government employees free air fares if they take their holidays there. “Maldives? Mauritius? The Indian Ocean is ’so last year’!” reads one fashionable travel brochure in London. Even the “new Middle East” Ms Rice says she wants to emerge after Israel’s assault on its northern neighbour is unlikely to see the reopening of the heavily militarised border which has closed off the two countries from each other for almost 60 years..

Debate is growing over whether India’s remote Andaman islands should be promoted as a tourist destination, amid fears for the islands’ delicate ecosystem, and the survival of some of the last tribal peoples untouched by the modern world. Rescuers aided by villagers were digging by hand to look for casualties.. Whether or not Condoleezza Rice’s arrival in the Middle East marks the first stage of a peace process, it is unlikely to bring Madonna Baradhi, a Christian Arab living in southern Lebanon, and Lilach Ben Itzhak, a Jew living in northern Israel, closer together. Survivors said that more than 50 adults and children had died. The Israeli army said missiles had been fired from the area before the 1am air strike in which a three-story building took a direct hit.