TAKING STOCK

o.Surrey Group, the betting shop chain that is seemingly one of the market's perennial penny shares, is still a long way from the winners' enclosure. But it is expected to move significantly into the black later this month. At its interim stage it achieved profits of pounds 45,000 against a pounds 57,000 loss. Its last profit - just pounds 5,000 - was in 1992. The shares, once more than 16p, held at 1.25p with more than a million printed.

o.Gibbon, a printing ink maker, jumped 30p to 170p after a 21 per cent profits advance to pounds 2.05m. Around pounds 2.4m seems likely this year. The company, headed by Michael Gibbon, is looking for acquisitions. In the second half of its year it put through price increases and expects to lift them again shortly. The shares came to market years ago - at 72p.