Having failed in its adventurous bid for SD Scicon Plc, Cray Electronics Holdings Plc, Newbury, Berkshire duly landed the big one on Friday when it announced that it would pay UKP50m for Dowty Information Technology. It is not taking the Cognito mobile paging business, which was launched in August 1991 and was carried in the Dowty balance sheet at UKP21m, and Dowty’s new parent TI Group Plc made the shock announcement that it is to close the business down at the end of the month, leaving 1,000 subscribers in the lurch. TI says that the business is suffering a cash outflow of UKP1m a month and that it believes it would have continued at that rate for the foreseeable future. There are still talks going on with possi ble buyers, including the unit’s management, but the rate at which the business is bleeding seems to make it a very undesirable property.
