Sir Alan Sugar's Amstrad business managed to register a £375,000 profit in the six months to December, with £5.5m of losses from the Amserve e-m@iler arm being balanced by a £5.2m profit from the rest of the operation, £326,000 net of interest receipts and the profit from a minority interest. Indeed, with £18.9m in the bank and £22.3m of tangible net assets on the balance sheet, it is no surprise that Sugar has been considering taking the group private. That is not to say that it does not have its problems, as it clearly still does. The e-m@iler device has been nowhere near the success that it was intended to be, leading Amstrad and its joint venture partner Dixons to halve the retail price to £50. But Sugar and his board colleagues remain committed to this area and are concentrating more on increasing the installed base and thereby increasing the revenues derived from the use of the e-m@iler. Meanwhile, Amstrad's 100%-owned operations are doing rather well, with digital set-top-box sales showing a 4% increase and audio products shifting well, especially in the US. Evolution Beeson Gregory expects a £1.3m pre-tax profit for the year, with 1.4p of EPS and total dividend payouts of 2.3p per share. For a business with many issues, the above-average rating looks generous. Reduce.