Cornwell Parker ponders offers

CORNWELL PARKER, the furniture and fabrics company which in January said it had received preliminary merger approaches, has received further approaches that may lead to an offer for the group.

In its interim results, the company said it was in talks concerning a possible bid. The comments lifted the share price 14 per cent to 98.5p, valuing the company at pounds 41m. Before January the shares were languishing at less than 55p. Yesterday the company announced six-month profits down from pounds 3.3m to pounds 2.1m, with earnings down from 5.3p to 3.5p per share. There were "some signs the worst may be over," said James Moore, the chief executive.