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Hays’ strategy is to avoid too much exposure to the cut-throat supermarket distribution sector where margins are wafer-thin. Instead the group has concentrated on the supply of non-food items in the UK such as Bridgestone tyres to Kwik Fit and vehicle components to Vauxhall.The dividend was increased by 15 per cent to 7p The shares were down 1p to 358p.Investment Column, page 16. Mr Frost said the company was unlikely to resort to a rights issue to fund an acquisition.Hays’ figures were particularly impressive given recent downbeat statements from rival distribution groups such as Tibbett & Britten and Christian Salveson. He added that a “sizeable” acquisition in the commercial sector was a possibility.Group debt is pounds 56m and gearing is down from 44 per cent to 31 per cent. It claims to be the UK’s second-largest postal service after the Post Office, handling 85,000 parcels a night.

New capacity has been added to the Hays Express business.Mr Frost said the priorities for the future were to pursue food distribution deals in Germany, non-food contracts in France and the expansion of the commercial and office supplies business across Europe. The old Britdoc business has been rebranded as Hays Document Exchange. The business has already started contracts in Poland and Moscow where it is specialising in food, DIY products and packaged chemicals.At the end of June, Hays announced the pounds 15m acquisition of Jarlaud in France to link up with Hays’ existing Fril business.Operating profit at the commercial business, which operates postal and parcels services, rose 19 per cent to pounds 32.6m Hays is continuing to rebrand its business. After successful deals in France in 1992 and Germany in 1993, Mr Frost is looking to eastern Europe. Profits rose 12 per cent to pounds 55m and the company is pursuing growth opportunities across Europe.

Costs have been cut and the company is operating with 25 per cent fewer staff than two years ago on sales that have doubled.The logistics business which operates warehouse and distribution services to supermarket and manufacturing groups is also expanding. The division is benefiting from the trend towards short-term contracts resulting in a rising demand for temps.Ronnie Frost, the chairman who led a management buyout in 1987, said the business was “going like a train”. The recruitment division, which includes the Hays Accountancy business, was the star performer with a 73-per-cent increase in profits.
The division has recovered from a slump in profits three years ago when it was hit by a combination of high costs and the impact of the recession. NIGEL COPE

Hays, the business services group floated in 1989, continued its successful run yesterday with a 26-per-cent increase in pre-tax profits to pounds 110m for the year to June. He said he felt one reason was that Lehman wanted to get the Teva shares registered in New York so they could be traded on the stock exchange there.The jury also heard of Robert Maxwell’s insistence on dealing only with the top men in any organisation. Mr Howard said that a few days before Maxwell’s death he telephoned the Pierre Hotel in New York, where the tycoon was staying.A problem over signatures on financial documents had arisen in London and Mr Howard had been told Maxwell was causing the problem.It soon became obvious on the telephone that what really “annoyed” Maxwell was that he had been expecting somebody more senior than Mr Howard to ring him about the matter.The problem was sorted out, and the signatures were given.Kevin, his brother Ian, and ex-Maxwell aide Larry Trachtenberg all plead not guilty to conspiracy to defraud in respect of misuse of the pension fund investments.The trial continues today.. Two of the securities held were Teva and Scitex shares, which were owned by Bishopsgate Investment Management, the pension fund arm of the Maxwell group.By 25 November 1991, Lehman was insisting that every `t’ was crossed and every `i’ dotted in an agreement between the two organisations, agreed Mr Howard.

So I gathered that Kevin was very stressed and unhappy.”Kevin also made it clear to Lehman that he felt as a result of the action it had taken it was holding surplus collateral. JOHN WILLCOCK

Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that was pressuring the Maxwell empire to reduce the millions of pounds it owed, had a “difficult” meeting with Kevin Maxwell one day after his tycoon father had been found dead, the Old Bailey fraud trial heard yesterday.
Phillip Howard, then head of the fixed income division of the bank, said on 6 November 1991 Lehmans had issued a default notice, a move that was “pretty serious” because had it became known it would have affected the Maxwell position with other bankers, the court was told.When he and other Lehman executives arrived at Maxwell House they were kept waiting for an hour before being shown up to Kevin’s office.Asked how the meeting was difficult in other ways, Mr Howard said: “It was the day after Robert Maxwell had fallen off his boat so I imagine there was a lot of concern both of a personal nature and other bankers wanting to know what was going on. It had sales last year of $55m.Carlton, which holds the ITV licences for London week-day television, and Central, has said it intends to concentrate on broadcasting operations in the UK, continental Europe and the Far East.. Abekas sells specialist digital video equipment used by studios to create post-production special effects. Pearson Television chief executive Greg Dyke, who is master-minding the acquisition search, is also relying on advice from executives of Grundy Worldwide.o Carlton Communications, the UK media company run by Michael Green, is selling its California-based Abekas Video Systems to Scitex of Israel for $52m. With MAI, Pearson is also a member of a consortium bidding for the Channel 5 licence, and would be expected to supply programming for the new service.The US talks are believed to be well advanced. Pearson is thought to be insisting on ironclad contracts with senior ACI management to guarantee rights to future productions.The talks were confirmed over the weekend, but Pearson continued yesterday to decline any comment on the terms and the likely price.It is believed that at least one other company is being wooed in the US.