Computer-based industrial control systems builder Harland Simon Group Plc accompanied a sturdy 51% advance in interim pre-tax profits with news that it has acquired Bauteil Holdings Ltd of Glasgow, which it says strengthens its links with the water, oil and gas industries to complement its paper, print, publishing and food interests. Bauteil makes computerised drive controls for North Sea drilling platforms, the water and sewage businesses and to northern industry: Harland has paid UKP275,000 cash for the company, which employs 150 people – and seems to be getting a business which is going through a lean patch at a bargain basement price – net asset value is put at UKP325,000, so there is no goodwill that will have to be written off, and while Bauteil is expected to show a UKP556,000 loss when the figures for the year to September 30 are all added up; sales are expected to come out at UKP8.5m, marginally down on those for fiscal 1988, when the company showed pre-tax profits of UKP403,000 on sales of UKP8.6m, and net assets of UKP8.6m. Bauteil is expected to return to profitability in the current financial year, and three directors of the company are to be offered the chance to participate in the equity of the new subsidiary on the same terms that Harland Simon has bought the company.
