Business remains brisk for Brits at `quiet' Midem. (News).

UK companies defied a sharp fall in the number of Midem delegates this year as many reported brisk business at their stands.

While the number of attendees in Cannes' Palais des Festivals during last week's event fell by 1,500 to around 9,000 on 2001's figures, some suggested those staying away were from the fringes of the industry or "timewasters", leaving only the serious delegates with deals to secure.

Lightning Export's export sales manager Phil Evans was among those not dampened by one of the quietest festivals in years. "There doesn't seem to be so much walk-up traffic this year, but what we're hearing are the people here are more serious and there aren't so many time wasters," he said. "This has been quite an important Midem for us because of our change from Startle to THE. It's a bit of a relaunch for Lightning."

James Fisher, the general manager of the Music Managers Forum -- which boasted the highest number of UK delegates of any individual organisation -- said its members were turning more and more to deals with continental and indie record companies because of the increasing tendancy of UK majors to "narrow" their rosters.

"We brought 100 managers down here and the reaction we're getting from the managers is they're doing better business than last year," he said. "I know some have done licensing deals and they are interesting other ...