Market report: Taking Stock

GOWRINGS, with an unusual combination of Ford dealerships and Burger King fast food restaurants, should achieve profits of pounds 1.7m this year and just over pounds 2m next, believes stockbroker Greig Middleton. The shares, at 122.5p, "offer considerable potential", says analyst David Wilkinson. Guinness Peat, which once made bid noises, has 14.6 per cent but the founding family has more than 50 per cent.

BRITISH Taxpayers Association, the troubled group being developed as a go-go investment vehicle, has been given a tantalising new name - Bearbull Active Strategic Investment Co. The company is being revamped after what amounted to a rescue bid. The shares, traded on Ofex, rose 0.5p to 4p. They once nudged 30p.

CERAMICS group John Tams has had a number of bid approaches. The shares, up 3p at 25.5p, have edged up from 17p last month.