Company News in Brief

Quadramatic shares jumped 17p to 215p after the chairman and chief executive, Tony Gartland, told the annual meeting that results for the first quarter were 'comfortably ahead of expectations'.

GM Firth, steel stockholder, cut pre-tax losses from pounds 1.5m to pounds 756,000 for the six months to 30 September in what the chairman described as a 'relatively depressed' steel market. There was an exceptional charge amounting to pounds 349,000 for stockholding depot closures, redundancy costs and the loss on the sale of property and business. Loss per share was cut to 2.29p (4.46p).

Six months to 31 December

Lazard High Income Trust is to pay a first-half dividend of 1.6p. Net asset value per share 105.35p.

TR City of London Trust increased the total dividend payout from 2.38p to 2.46p. Net asset value per share 159.39p (125.69p).

Hong Kong Investment Trust's net asset value per share more than doubled from 44.4p to 109.3p. Dividend is held at 0.75p.