Company News in Brief

Wembley, the leisure group that owns the national football stadium, has sold Guild, an independent film distributor that it bought almost three years ago for pounds 23.8m, to Chargeurs, a French shareholder in BSkyB, for pounds 24.5m. Wembley's chairman, Brian Wolfson, said the sale would help to reduce borrowings while allowing the group to focus on Wembley Stadium and its gaming and ticketing activities. Last year Wembley reported losses of more than pounds 8m. The contribution from Guild was pounds 1.9m profit.

Excalibur Group, the precision engineer and maker of jewellery and giftware, announced a sharp fall in pre-tax profits from pounds 1.1m to pounds 1.1m for the year to 30 April. Final dividend is 0.6p, making 1p (1.8p).

Greggs, the makers of bread, flour, confectionary and savoury products, lifted pre-tax profits slightly to pounds 2.3m (pounds 2.2m) in the six months to 30 June. Interim dividend is 5p (4.75p).

DC Gardner Group, which provides training and consultancy services to financial institutions, reported a turnaround from pounds 2.8m pre-tax loss to pre-tax profit of pounds 930,000 for the six months to 30 June. No dividend.

RPS Group, the environmental consultants, increased pre-tax profits to pounds 355,000 (pounds 302,000) in the six months to 30 June. Interim dividend is cut to 1p (1.4p).

Heritage, a supplier of houseware to wholesalers and multiple chain stores, reduced pre-tax losses to pounds 177,000 (pounds 381,000) in the year to 30 April. No dividend.

TR Smaller Companies Investment Trust's net asset value improved from 150.2p to 155.4p per share. It declared a final dividend of 2.2p to keep the total unchanged at 3.7p for the year to 31 May.

EFM Java Trust, which invests in long-term capital growth in Indonesia, increased net asset value from 25.91p to 30.03p per share in the six months to 30 June. There is no dividend.

Smaller Companies Investment Trust's net asset value advanced from 83.13p to 89.16p in the six months to 30 June. Interim dividend is maintained at 1.2p.