Company News in Brief

Bensons Crisps, the food maker, doubled losses to pounds 386,000 ( pounds 191,000) in the six months to 29 May. The dividend is maintained at 0.7p.

Rexmore Group, the textiles supplier, made a pre-tax loss of pounds 1.36m in the year to 3 April, compared with a loss of pounds 896,000 last year. Turnover was up from pounds 30.173m to pounds 31.513m. The final dividend is 1.05p, making an unchanged total of 1.75p.

Edinburgh Oil & Gas pre-tax profit rose to pounds 103,000 from pounds 6,000 in the six months to 30 June. There is no interim dividend.

Huntingdon International, the life sciences company, made pounds 3.355m ( pounds 3.220m) in the third quarter ended 30 June.

Howard Holdings, the property development and plant hire group, pre-tax losses fell to pounds 204,749 from pounds 813,635 in the year ended 30 April. The final dividend is 0.5p a share (unchanged).

Fairey Group, the mechanical engineer, has agreed to purchase the US- based Luxtron Corporation for dollars 12.7m in cash. In 1992 Luxtron made pre-tax profits of dollars 1m before a provision for exceptional restructuring costs of dollars 500,000 on sales of dollars 11.4m.

MISYS, the computer systems firm, is buying Champs, a hotel software business, from Data Sciences UK for pounds 725,000 in cash.

Higgs & Hill, the construction and engineering group, is paying the receiver of Flintclose, a subsidiary of Speyhawk, pounds 720,000 for the the out-of- town retail development business of Carter Commercial Developments.