A case is being put together for GEC Plc taking STC Plc as its next target, the key to the argument being that STC chief executive, recruited from GEC-Marconi, is there simply to put the GEC stamp and management style on the company ahead of GEC making its move; the principal attraction for GEC is said to be the ICL computer business, a string presence in computers being a glaring gap in the GEC armoury, although the STC cables business is also far from unattractive: we take the suggestions with a large pinch of salt, first of all because Lord Weinstock would find it difficult to explain to shareholders why he was paying around 320 pence a share (STC closed at 288p on Friday) when he could have got the company for under 100 pence 18 months ago, albeit at a time when he was otherwise occupied with Plessey; on the industrial logic side, GEC certainly does need a computer company, but ICL, with its heavy general purpose commercial bias, is far from the ideal target for GEC, and Gould Computer Systems across the Atlantic looks a much better bet, while Prime Computer, and even Data General and Concurrent Computer come closer to the profile of firm that GEC needs.
