Although STC Plc is the first name on everybody’s lips when talk turns to discussion of a white knight to rescue Plessey Co Plc from the Stanhope Gate-Munich axis, it might be worthwhile Sir John Clark considering a proposal of marriage to Thorn EMI Plc, where there is very little overlap these days, and plenty of potential for synergy: Plessey is the only serious UK player in semiconductors now, and for the first time in its 10-year life, Inmos International Plc is a really attractive property; Software Sciences would add a strong military complement to Hoskyns Group’s mainly civil business; and the defence interests of the two companies are not in conflict – and being of comparable size, a genuine merger would be a feasible move.
