I think today's action has some thing to do with this news:
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Thursday November 6 12:43 PM EST
Amslit in 75 mln pound Seagate settlement
LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Amslit Ltd, the British electronics company born out of the reorganisation of computer group Amstrad, on Thursday reached an out-of-court settlement with U.S. firm Seagate Technology Inc (SEG) worth about 75 million pounds before tax.
Shareholders in Amslit, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Britain's newly-listed Viglen Technology Plc (VGN.L), will receive loan notes of 43p per share, or about 51.6 million pounds after tax, the company said.
Before corporation tax and a sum retained for a fresh legal battle in California, the total settlement is expected to be around 75 million pounds -- a little less than the 85.45 million pounds Amslit was awarded in July in its case against Seagate.
But both Amslit -- then Amstrad -- and Seagate had appealed against the decision.
However Amslit, which had alleged that the U.S. hard disk drive manufacturer supplied it with defective components, said both parties had been keen to settle a dispute which could have dragged on for years.
''It has been a long battle but it's a good resolution for Amstrad shareholders, whose total stock is now worth 310p per Amstrad share compared to 140p when the re-organisation was announced earlier in the summer,'' a company spokesman said.
Amstrad's shares were trading around 140p when the company was broken up. In the subsequent reorganisation, shareholders got 163p, one Viglen share -- now trading at about 82p -- and a percentage of the group's stake in Betacom Plc, worth 22p. With the latest loan notes, equivalent to 43p, that gives a figure of about 310p.
The company can now turn its attention to California, where it is seeking damages of around 70 million pounds in a similar case for alleged defective components from Western Digital Corp (WDC).
That case begins early next year.
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