JellyWorks founder Jonathan Rowland yesterday moved a step closer to a stock market flotation for his new vehicle, ZO Media, by quitting the board of a rival media firm.

Mr Rowland, 25-year-old son of speculator David "Spotty" Rowland, is stepping down as a non-executive director of AIM-listed local TV group VFG just six months after taking up the post.

VFG's non-executive chairman, David Hudd, a Rowland associate, is also resigning from the board of the firm, in which the Rowland family holds a 28.25% stake through a company called Lochangel.

Mr Rowland said he was resigning to concentrate on ZO Media, which is in the process of closing a £4m fundraising round. The Barclay brothers, owners of the Scotsman Newspaper and Ritz hotel, might become investors, he added.

"We're looking to buy an established sports media firm. We're looking at heritage sports media rights; things like squash, tennis, non-league football, equestrianism, maybe formula one.

"We've be getting more involved in companies. We've been a passive investor before."

Mr Rowland's first dabble in the stock market was with JellyWorks, one of the wonder stocks of the dot.com boom which was later sold to the investment bank Shore Capital for less than a quarter of its peak valuation.

VFG started out providing television production equipment for series such as quiz show The Weakest Link.

The company is now building a network of free-to-air local television stations that will sit alongside the existing five terrestrial channels.

Yesterday it reported that "extremely competitive market conditions" led to a £1.6m pre-tax loss.

The company's shares closed down 7% at 25p.