Neotronics Technology Plc, the Bishops Stortford, UK gas detection and analysis firm best known for its Electronic nose, is to sell up. Following a tough interim trading period (CI No 2,934) – though for Neotronics the going has always been somewhat bumpy, the company has given up hope of finding much-needed investors, and has agreed to sell its entire share capital to the Zellweger Luwa Ltd subsidiary of Swiss-based Zellweger Luwa AG, worldwide supplier of water analytical instruments as well as detectors for toxic and flammable gasses. Swiss-based investment company Hesta AG, privately held by the Bechel family, holds about 77% of the voting rights and 54% of the issued share capital of Zellweger. Neotronics reported pre-tax losses for the six months to March 31 at 332,000 British pounds compared to a profit of 83,000 pounds last time around, on revenue that slipped 0.6% to 9.8m pounds. Zellweger has agreed to pay 90 pence for each Neotronics share, which values the firm at 23.3m pounds.
