TAKING STOCK

o Winchester Multimedia hopes to join AIM next week. The group, currently on the 4.2 share market, is raising pounds 3.1m through a placing and open offer at 100p. Major shareholders LLT Investments, the Rothschild merchant bank, GRE and Legal & General, are supporting the share sale. Winchester, created by chairman Gary Smith, has interests in films, television, music and similar fields. The 4.2 market price is 97p.

o Berkeley Business, the office equipment group which bid unsuccessfully for Southern Business, fell to 27p at one time , closing at 30p. The shares were equal to 100p a year ago. The decline follows a series of small selling orders. The shares climbed off their low after director Malcolm Burge acquired 300,000 at 29p.