Company News in Brief

GT Japan Investment Trust will maintain the dividend payout for the six months to 31 December at 0.4p. It recorded a 38 per cent rise in net asset value per share from 176.3p to 243.6p over the past year. Income from investments grew to pounds 1.4m ( pounds 1.1m), but interest on deposits fell sharply in line with general base rates. Earnings per share declined to 0.98p (1.97p).

Dobson Park's subsidiary, Elgar Electronics, has agreed with Switchcraft, a subsidiary of the Raytheon Company, to buy assets and take on the debts of Sorensen, a division of Switchcraft, for dollars 4.9m.

Elgar Electronics mainly designs and makes AC-programmable power supplies. More than half of total sales are to military end-users. Sorensen, based in Paxton, Illinois, is a large supplier of DC-programmable power supplies with about 80 per cent of its total sales to non-military end-user markets.

Elgar Electronics will also enter an agreement for Switchcraft to make Sorensen products on a sub- contract basis on behalf of Elgar for up to nine months. The Sorensen business will be integrated with Elgar's established operations in San Diego, California.

Elgar also manufactures a range of DC-programmable power supplies and portable ruggedised universal power supplies.