As part of its streamlining programme, aimed at reducing debt and focusing group activities on its three core activities, telecommunications, software systems and instrumentation, Cray Electronics Holdings Plc, Newbury, Berkshire, has disposed of two more of its subsidiaries. Defence business W & J Tod Ltd was sold on Friday as a going concern for a total of UKP1.7m, paid in cash on completion, to a management buy-out team led by Cray’s former finance director Simon Finch, in a deal financed by investment organisation 3i. The subsidiary, which supplies sonar domes and urethane products to the defence industry, contributed pre-tax profits of UKP260,000 for the year ended April 30 1990. And, on March 27, Cray Electronics sold its three-man research and development outfit, Optical Sensors Ltd, as a going concern to Lucas Industries Plc, for a consideration of UKP121,500. Cray has now reduced its number of companies from 39 to 13 – most of the sales have been to management buy-out teams, the rest to private companies and venture capitalists. The proceeds of the two sales go towards making a further dent in company borrowings – which stood between UKP30m and UKP40m at the end of the 1990 financial year. More disposals are under negotiation.
