Company News in Brief

Argent, the property company, has acquired a 28-acre site at the Thames Valley business park near Reading for pounds 17.4m from Oracle, the US computer group. It plans to develop 300,000 square feet of offices and has sold on part of the site to British Gas for pounds 5.8m.

Interim results to 30 June

Readymix, the Irish concrete group, made pre-tax profits of pounds 1.35m, up from pounds 1.04m. Earnings per share were 2.98p (2.29p). Dividend is unchanged at 0.55p.

Torday & Carlisle, the engineering company, made a first-half pre- tax loss of pounds 546,000 compared with a profit of pounds 17,000. The loss per share was 3.4p (earnings of 0.4p).

Henlys, the motor dealer, reported pre-tax profits of pounds 8.4m, up from pounds 3.2m. EPS were 14.5p (6.4p). The dividend is 2.5p (1.5p).

Eclipse Blinds, the building products group, made taxable profits of pounds 787,000, down from pounds 1.37m. Loss per share was 0.16p (earnings of 0.31p). No interim payout.

Full-year results to 30 June

Isotron, the medical equipment steriliser, made full-year pre-tax profits of pounds 3.07m ( pounds 3.1m). EPS slipped to 17p (17.3p). The final dividend of 3.11p made a total of 4.77p (4.34p).

Litho Supplies, the printing products group, has bought the chemicals company Lonchem for pounds 315,000. Lonchem makes developers, fixers and printing solvents for the printing and graphic arts industry.

Manders, the inks group, has bought Morrison Printing Inks of New Zealand for pounds 10.8m and pounds 3.1m in debt.