Companies with which GEC has had talks about a possible joint Ferranti bid include Matra Britain 's Dowty Group PLC West Germany 's Daimler-Benz AG and France 's Dassault group

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But it may be weeks before GEC and its potential partners decide whether to bid the source indicated

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GEC plans first to study Ferranti 's financial accounts which auditors recently said included 215 million in fictitious contracts at a U.S. unit International Signal & Control Group with which Ferranti merged last year

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Also any GEC bid might be blocked by British antitrust regulators Ferranti is GEC 's main competitor on several key defense-electronics contracts and its purchase by GEC may heighten British Defense Ministry worries about concentration in the country 's defense industry

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A consortium bid however would diminish GEC 's direct role in Ferranti and might consequently appease ministry officials

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A British Aerospace spokeswoman appeared unperturbed by the prospect of a fight with GEC for Ferranti Competition is the name of the game she said

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At least one potential GEC partner Matra insists it is n't interested in Ferranti

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We have nothing to say about this affair which does n't concern us a Matra official said Sunday

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The missile venture the British Aerospace spokeswoman said is a needed response to the new environment in defense contracting

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For both Thomson and British Aerospace earnings in their home markets have come under pressure from increasingly tight-fisted defense ministries and Middle East sales a traditional mainstay for both companies ' exports have been hurt by five years of weak oil prices

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The venture 's importance for Thomson is great

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Thomson feels the future of its defense business depends on building cooperation with other Europeans

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The European defense industry is consolidating for instance West Germany 's Siemens AG recently joined GEC in a takeover of Britain 's Plessey Co. and Daimler-Benz agreed to buy Messerschmitt-Boelkow Blohm G.m.b H

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In missiles Thomson is already overshadowed by British Aerospace and by its home rival France 's Aerospatiale S.A. to better compete Thomson officials say they need a partnership

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To justify 50-50 ownership of the planned venture Thomson would make a cash payment to British Aerospace

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Annual revenue of British Aerospace 's missile business is about 950 million a Thomson spokesman said

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British Aerospace 's chief missile products include its 17-year-old family of Rapier surface-to-air missiles

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Thomson missile products with about half British Aerospace 's annual revenue include the Crotale surface-to-air missile family

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PSE Inc. said it expects to report third earnings of 1.3 million to 1.7 million or 14 cents to 18 cents a share

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In the year-ago quarter the designer and operator of cogeneration and waste heat recovery plants had net income of 326,000 or four cents a share on revenue of about 41.4 million

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The company said the improvement is related to additional cogeneration facilities that have been put into operation

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