Shares: Taking Stock

Sira Business Services, a contract cleaner, is thought to be trading well and should report interim profits close to pounds 400,000 next month. Six-month figures last year more than doubled to pounds 280,000.

The acquisitive group, run by Robert Weigl, should nudge pounds 1m for the year against pounds 682,000 last time. The shares held at 6p on AIM. A full listing is planned in the next two years.

Groupe Chez Gerard, the restaurant chain, held near its peak at 275.5p as stockbroker Granville Davies said the shares were a buy. It forecasts little changed profits of pounds 3m this year. Next year's result should be pounds 4.1m and then pounds 4.8m in the following year. Analyst Sahill Shan describes the shares as "a quality defensive play with an attractive growth outlook".