Companies: ALU    FENR    HDD   

One of April's major small cap engineering stories was conveyor belt maker Fenner's £44.6 million cash and shares acquisition of polymer seals play Wellington. Small cap outfit Fenner underlined the strength of its own recovery by taking out the sealant specialist in a deal valuing Wellington shares at 185p – 123p in cash and 0.456 of a Fenner share.

Fenner chief executive Mark Abrahams says Wellington, which made profits of £5.1 million off a top line £33.9 million in 2004, will expand Fenner's precision polymer operations and the deal will also bring synergy, savings and a platform to acquire other international businesses.

Elsewhere, the MG Rover situation stoked a statement from fledgling firm Alumasc, the building and engineering products play. Paul Hooper, chief executive, said declining volumes had been making business with Rover increasingly uneconomic, and the group had taken steps to protect its position, namely chasing new customers in other sectors. Thanks to these actions, Hooper insists total exposure to the Rover group is limited to £200,000.

Elsewhere AIM-quoted Hardide, the provider of unique surface engineering technology, pleased with news it plans to set up a sales and manufacturing facility in Texas due to growing demand for its products in the oil and gas sector. The company came to AIM in early April with a £1.75 million funding priced at 10p a share.