City File: Upright giant

WITH Williams losing one of its founders, BTR's new generation finding it hard to follow the old, Hanson's old guard finding it hard to hand over to the new, and Tomkins suffering indigestion from Ranks Hovis McDougall, Wassall has become the fastest-growing company in the conglomerates sector, almost by default.

But is the group, headed by former Hanson acolytes, going to deliver the goods? It came unstuck on Evode and, like Williams, could do with a decent deal. Meanwhile, it has come to the attention of Nikko Securities, whose analyst Stephen Kirk rates Wassall a buy at 254p.

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