Celebrity panellist Claire Sweeney has been dropped by a dieting firm after admitting she lost 7lbs using a rival’s plan

Sweeney, 39, known for her role as a panellist on the Loose Women show, had been set to sign what was believed to be a lucrative deal with weight-loss company Go Lower.

However, the Edinburgh-based firm has ditched Sweeney following an appearance on the cover of the latest magazine from WeightWatchers.

In its October cover story, titled ‘How I stay at a healthy and happy 10st’, Sweeney claims her shedding of pounds during the filming of the forthcoming BBC1 series Candy Cabs was thanks to the points system used by WeightWatchers.  This caused infuriated Go Lower executives to ditch their new role model, who rose to prominence in the Channel 4 series Brookside, particularly after Sweeney had previously informed a different magazine – Closer – that her weight loss was due to the Go Lower program.

In the feature article inside the WeightWatchers magazine, Sweeney said she was so happy with her trim new figure that she had even encouraged her mum to sign up. The glamorous TV star said that by sticking to the 18 points values every day she was delighted with the resulted for her 5ft 8in figure, adding that her mother’s recent complaints about her own weight issues had led to her signing up Sweeney senior to the WeightWatchers system last week. She also suggested that she was looking for a toy boy for whom to have kids with.

Despite an improved second quarter performance, Eastman Kodak continues to struggle.

Wednesday saw the release of a narrower loss than in the first quarter of 2010, but the slight improvement was still short of analyst’s estimates.

The results mean that Kodak, one of the world leaders in printers and cameras, continues to struggle with its years-long battle to restructure since the advent of digital imaging.

Kodak’s share performance on the S&P 500 ranked as the largest decliner by percentage, falling by 15 per cent to just $4.18. The stock has been in continual sale from investors since it peaked at a 12-month high back in April of $9.08.

Erik Kolb, equity analyst with Standard & Poor’s, said that the stock market remained concerned that continued declines in the sales of film would continue to impact on Kodak’s cash flow, with the consumer products market likely to bear the brunt of the decline. Kolb noted that there had been a slight increase in recent times in the sales of inkjet printers, but otherwise the market was forecast to remain stagnant and unprofitable for the foreseeable future.

In keeping with recent trends, Kodak has made a larger push into the inkjet printer market, targeting both individual and business customers. According to Kodak, personal inkjet printer sales have grown by 50 per cent in the past year, while business sales have risen by 18 per cent.

However, this was overwhelmed by the operating loss for the second quarter of $167 million, down from $191 million, or roughly 71 cents per share, compared to the same time last year.