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Oils enjoyed another stock market gusher as crude prices firmed on President Clinton’s Iran trade ban. Earnings per share almost tripled from 6.1p to 17.5p.Sir Denys Henderson, in his last announcement before retirement, said cost-cutting and productivity improvements had driven the rise in profits, more than offsetting the impact of raw material price increases.Profits from the paints division at £14m were £3m below those for 1994 despite higher sales, volumes and prices as last year’s highly competitive market continued into the first quarter.The division, which has undergone several years of intensive change, has operations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, where sales growth is expected to be strongest.Factories have been extended in Thailand, Taiwan and Australia and new sites added in Malaysia and China.China is a fast-growing market for paint and last year 100 display centres were opened in Chinese towns and cities.ICI’s shares closed 1p lower at 754p.. The company also sells heavy-duty coatings for tankers and fishing boats, petrochemical plants and oil rigs.There is an automotive division providing adhesives, sealants and speciality coatings, a household and laundry products arm and an aerosol spray paint maker.The Grow acquisition is the first since ICI announced a surge in first- quarter profits last week from £93m to £221m. Grow had sales of $402m in the year to last June and profits of $14m.Following the acquisition of a Los Angeles-based coatings and chemicals business, sales are expected to exceed $500m this year.Four-fifths of sales come from architectural paints supplied to professional painters as well as big industrial and government accounts.

We believe Grow’s valued paint brands and distribution network will complement ours.”ICI became a big player in the $18bn North American paint market in 1986 with the acquisition of Glidden Paints for $500m.Last year it expanded the operation, buying California-based Decratrend Paints, bringing the division’s sales to around $1bn a year.The acquisition will add 150 company-owned outlets to Gliddens existing 450 in geographically complementary locations. They also agreed to the sale by Corimon, a Venezualan corporation, of its 25 per cent stake in Grow for $17.50 a share.
John Danzeisen, the chief executive of ICI’s North American paint operation, said: “ICI views the merger as an extremely good fit. Imperial Chemical Industries is consolidating its position in the North American paint market with the acquisition for $290m (£179m) of Grow, the New York-based manufacturer of architectural paints and coatings. Grow’s directors have recommended ICI’s tender offer, pitched at $18.10 a share.

It says the success of the National Lottery, launched last November, is drawing more customers into corner shops.However, analysts remain unconvinced. One said yesterday: “It’s good that they have filled the chief executive post, but we still have doubts about the overall strategy.”The shares finished 2p higher at 188p.. Last year’s profits fell by half to £16.5m, hit by trading losses at Cargo Club and £4m costs relating to the conversion of cash-and-carry outlets to the TBW format, which also offers office supplies.N&P says the decline in trade among independent food retailers, which form the bulk of N&P’s customers, is coming to an end and that like for like, sales are increasing. Speculation continues that the Peacock family, which controls the lion’s share of N&P stock, will sell out.The company’s recent financial performance has also concerned industry analysts. Its attempt to pioneer the warehouse club style of retailing in the UK failed and the three Cargo Club sites were sold to Sainsbury’s for £45m in March The decision to sell came little more than a year after the concept’s launch.Most recently, the company has become embroiled in a squabble with its largest outside shareholder, the Dutch group SHV Makro, over a possible merger.

He is now suing the company for breach of contract and claiming compensation.
Mr Sims will be joining a group which has not enjoyed the best of fortunes of late. N&P’s previous chief executive, David Poole, left the company in October due to a clash of management styles. Nurdin & Peacock, the cash-and-carry retailer which has been operating without a chief executive for the last six months, finally filled the post yesterday when it appointed David Sims, head of Northern Foods’ convenience foods division, to the post He will join in June. However, Flemings said yesterday that it would not agree to a meeting.Signet is labouring under debts of £360m and has unpaid dividend arrears of £100m.. The UK Active Value Fund, led by Julian Treger and Brian Myerson, is seeking meetings with institutional shareholders to see if they will switch their vote. Peter Seabrook of Flemings said: “McAdam must come up with something. We want to know what proposals the board has.”Mr McAdam is believed to favour a reconstruction immediately after the company’s banking facilities are re-negotiated in June.