Telecomputing Plc, which has been ordered to pay the costs of a legal action it brought against the company’s founder and former chairman Bernard Panton and may face damages, reckons that its total exposure will not exceed UKP55,000: the company also says that Panton, who still holds 7.8%, has warned that as well as damages for loss of earnings and legal costs, he may seek recompense for the fall in value of his shareholding and for defamation; Telecomputing says it believes the latter claims are unfounded and they will be resisted strenuously; the new management installed by Ferrari Holdings Plc at Telecomputing decided that the company’s practice of capitalising research and development expenditure as an asset rather than writing it off as incurred was unsound and restated the figures the rigorous way, turning reported profits into losses; Telecomputing’s auditors, Touche Ross, will not be seeking re-election at the annual meeting.
