Amstrad Plc’s bright hope for the future, cellular and cordless phone maker Dancall Telecom A/S is suddenly surplus to requirements, and is to be sold to Robert Bosch GmbH for 92m pounds under a conditional agreement announced yesterday. Shares in Amstrad were up 26 pence at 226 pence after the company also said it was considering proposals to return value to shareholders through a tax-efficient mechanism. Amstrad chairman and dominant shareholder Alan Sugar justified the sale on grounds that it would maximize shareholder value and would be good for its employees; he also accused financial institutions of never understanding its potential. Amstrad acquired the assets, mainly the inventory and goodwill, of the then Dancall Radio A/S, from its receivers in September 1993, for just 6.3m pounds. Dancall’s newest phones, the Roamer and the World phone, are both considered technologically superior to those of its competitors in the industry. Bosch said it would retain the entire workforce of Dancall Telecom and would increase its plant capacity to over 2 million units a year, from 600,000 now. The management of Dancall will remain the same, Andreas Nobis, board member of Bosch Telecom, told Reuters. The acquisition will mark Bosch Telecom’s entry into the Groupe Speciale Mobile market as its main business has been digital enhanced cordless telephones. Dancall will retain its name in Denmark and other Scandinavian countries, but will use Bosch elsewhere.
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