In brief

John Haggas, spinner of wool and synthetic yarns, increased interim pre-tax profits by pounds 70,000 to pounds 981,000, on turnover up pounds 1.2m at pounds 17.6m. Earnings in the six months to 12 December 1992 rose to 3p from 2.8p. The interim dividend was unchanged at 1p.

A J Mucklow, the property developer, saw interim pre-tax profits fall by pounds 552,000 to pounds 4.82m. Earnings dropped to 3.26p from 3.81p but the interim dividend was increased from 2.82p to 2.96p.

Roseby, a specialist retailer of value-for-money household textiles, made pre-tax profits of pounds 2.34m, up 8 per cent from pounds 2.17m, in the year ended 31 December 1992. Earnings fell from 8.9p to 7.9p. The final dividend of 3p made a total of 4.35p.

Kleinwort Smaller Companies Investment Trust's net earnings fell to pounds 544,479 in the year ended 31 January 1993 from pounds 669,847 last time. Earnings per share were down at 4.12p, from 5.07p, and the total dividend was 4p, against 4.6p in 1992. The net asset value was 114.6p against 113.7p.

Reuters has bought a 51 per cent stake in Euro-FIS, a German software house specialising in portfolio management and security research applications, for an undisclosed sum 'not material in the context of Reuters net assets,' it said.

W H Smith has sold for an undisclosed sum its 50 per cent holding in Book Connections, which made a profit of pounds 142,585 in the year to November 1992, to Book Production Consultants, its partner in the joint venture.

Crown Business Communications is to be the subject of a management buyout from Crown Communications, which is in administrative receivership, in a deal backed and financed by Bank of Scotland. The management signed heads of terms yesterday.

Peek, the multinational traffic and field data systems company, is paying pounds 2.9m for two US companies, Signal Control and Signal Maintenance, whose sales for 1992 are estimated at dollars 24m ( pounds 16.6m).