Cannon Street warning

CANNON STREET Investments, the troubled mini-conglomerate, is to appoint liquidators to one of its many subsidiaries, writes Tom Stevenson.

The closure of Olivers Windows signals the withdrawal of Cannon Street from double glazing. Olivers lost pounds 3.3m in the year to December 1991 and Robin Binks, Cannon Street's chairman, warned that in the year just ended the deficit would be 'considerably higher'.

The group as a whole lost pounds 35m before tax in 1991. Having expanded fast through the late 1980s, Cannon Street collected more than 50 subsidiaries in 14 different business fields. Profits bounded from less than pounds 1m in 1985 to a peak of pounds 26.5m.

In the first half of 1992 Cannon Street paid another price for rapid acquisition-led expansion as new accounting regulations meant it was forced to take a pounds 23m hit on the profit and loss account to cover goodwill.