Chairman Lord Prior, the former Conservative minister, is continu-ing the GEC Plc tradition for arrogance: in his letter to shareholders accompanying the interim figures (see page three), Lord Prior says GEC’s results – pre-tax prof-its up just 3.3% – compare favourably with those of some of our competitors at home and abroad; profits and turnover from telecommunications and business systems, the operations that are going into the venture with Plessey Co Plc, are actually down 6.25% and 5.2% respectively, and is 3.3% growth something of which to be proud? Despite the various acquisitions, the cashpile is still a healthy UKP1,300m – and it earned a quarter of GEC’s UKP284m pre-tax profit.
