Companies: APC   

Following the sale of its broadband telecommunications components division for $5.5m (£3.5), APC has eliminated all of its debt, leaving it with £2.5m in the bank, a fact that is not reflected in its market rating. Probably because of confidentiality clauses on the disposal (to BelFuse of the US), the group's final results statement was rather thin on detail about how the remaining operations are performing, but the indications look reasonably good. Quite clearly, there was little point in APC continuing in this line of work given the uncertainties in the telecoms market and the irregularities of order inflow last year. These factors contributed to losses increasing from £1.1m to £1.5m in the year to August, on turnover reduced from £10.7m to £6.3m. But it is the future direction of the business (and, especially the share price) that is of more relevance now. The company's board is optimistic about the prospects for profitable growth from its remaining electronic manufacturing and component distribution businesses. For the former, companies are keen to utilise APC's contract manufacturing facilities in China for the low labour costs. For the latter there is potential for corporate activity. Interestingly in this respect, Peter Webb's Eaglet Investment Trust (which has several holdings in electronic distributors) has 20% of the company.