Cambridge Instruments Plc has set a 130 pence price on its offer for sale for the Full List of the London Stock Exchange, valuing the manufacturer of semiconductor capital equipment, scanning electron microscopes, optical equipment and host of other esoteric products, at UKP127m. The company expects to report profits for the year to the end of this month of UKP7.5m, putting the shares on a fairly modest actual price-earnings ratio of 14.8, 19.2 on a notional 35% tax rate. The company is offering 36.3m shares, 37% of the equity, through Kleinwort Benson, and the UKP47m or so raised will go to redeeming the preference shares, reducing already modest debt, and for working capital. The prospectus is published in the Financial Times today.
