Taking Stock

r Entrepreneur Bob Morton has quietly put together a 6 per cent shareholding in DRS Data & Research, making scanning equipment. The shares gained 1p to 28.5p; they have come up from 23.5p in the past week. Mr Morton used to run Vistec, the computer group taken over by Lynx. He has other quoted interests and is a leading light at Bickerton, a builder, due to arrive on AIM tomorrow. DRS, floated at 110p, blotted its copybook when profits failed to meet expectations.

r Ovoca Resources, traded at 14p, has enlisted a Canadian group to help develop its zinc deposit at Keel, 50 miles from Dublin. Paramount Ventures will pay $3m for a 50 per cent interest in the promising project and Irpounds 500,000 for 75 per cent of Ovoca's other Irish prospecting interests.