MEETING its flotation target neatly, with pre-tax profit of just over

#1m, Tyneside engineer Crabtree Group announced yesterday that it

planned to hit the acquisition trail.

It certainly got a vote of confidence from the market, the shares

gaining 13p to a 284p high. They were listed at 150p last July.

City dealmakers Luke Johnson and Stephen Hargrave, who are currently

trying to close a #15m cable TV supplier deal to reverse into Baillie

Gifford Technology, have had a hand in Crabtree's success.

The print machine-maker was floated via a #19.4m reversal into the

quoted children's medical charity Somerset Trust.

Only six months' results from Crabtree come into the reckoning, though

over the full year operating profits were more than #3m on #23.4m

turnover.

A 2p dividend is based on earnings of 10.7p a share.

Chairman Karl Watkin claimed record results had been achieved by

commitment to UK manufacturing and to aggressive selling world-

wide.

''We are now well ahead of the competition, including the Germans and

Japanese, in the quality of our engineering as well as our marketing,

and are investing to maintain that lead,'' he said.