TransTec prepares statement

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated:

 

An early statement is likely from engineer TransTec about the shock £11.2m claim which threatens to break up the group. PriceWaterhouseCoopers is pressing on with its probe and TransTec's board hopes to be able to report to shareholders soon. That could clear the way for the shares to resume trading.

Chairman Colin Cooke is striving to establish the full facts and to report them quickly. The affair came to light just a week before Christmas.

There was growing speculation that the claim from a customer may have arisen before ex-Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson left the TransTec chair in May 1997, though this does not mean that he knew of it.

The company's Christmas Eve statement said it arose 'prior to 1998'. Cooke says: 'I am not aware that Robinson knew anything about this. I don't think he had any awareness.'

TransTec is seeking replacements for chief executive Richard Carr and director Bill Jeffrey, who resigned on Christmas Eve. Advisers have come in to help sell the operations. Insiders are optimistic about employees' prospects. One said: 'Most of the subsidiaries are reasonable companies and should have a future.' >Cooke says: 'I am very disappointed about the claim, and its size in relation to the future of the group.'

TransTec was already in talks with its bankers, and the claim seems to have been the last straw. TransTec shares, 120p two years ago, were suspended at 6 1/2p, valuing the group at a theoretical £12m.

But its debts are heavy and it is still unclear whether there will be any value left for investors after the disposals.

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