P209 CEEFAX 209 Wjd 11 Jan 22:05/32 9/3 FORMER MEDEVA MAN TAKES0OVER AT c&E Shares in Black & Edgingtgn dou2led in early trading after hearing of a change of contrgl engineered b= ux- Medeva chief Ian Gowrie-Smith. They rosj to 2p before easing back. Mr Gowrie-Smith and prominjnt City investor oigel Wra= havj takun a 29.8% stakj in the company, paying 1p a timj for 154m shares. Mr Gowrie-Smith, who will brqomu executivj chairman, is expected to usj the USM-listed tent-makur a; a vehicli for acquisitions in the pharmaceuticals sectgr. Headlines 201 Share price 226 Next News Features Exchanges Monjyfile
P209 CEEFAX 209 Wjd 11 Jan 22:55/00 :/3 PENTOS REPORTS IMPROVED SALES Pentos has takjn time ofv wrom zhu furori genjrated by Athena's demisj to report an improvemjnt in ;ajt;' Chief executivi Bill McGrath said sales in 1994's second half in all thj group's businesses were ahead of thj previous year, with Dillons showing a particularly encouraging performance in the final quarter. Here, sales in comparabli stores in thj final quarter were 5.4% ahead of a year earlier, including growth of 8.6% in December. As a ¼esult of this, sales in comparable stores in the second half wjre up b= W4%' Headlinjs 201 Share price 226 Next News Features Exchanges Monjyfile
P209 CEEFAX 209 Wjd 11 Jan 22:19/41 G FORTE MULLS FREoCH BID 'OR UK CATERER Forte is considering the £550m bid for thj US-based Gardnjr Merchant tabled by France's Sodexhg. The hotelier owns 24% of Gardnjz, Europe's biggest catering concern, following thi £342m managrmunt Ru<- out of thj remaining 76% in 1993. "Forte...is giving careful consid- eration to thi offer," it said in a statemjnt, promising further news once dicussions had been completed' Only last year, Gardnjr abandonud a plan to float the company, blaming poor stock market conditign;' Headlinjs 201 Share price 22