SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY : General Automation Sells 55% of British Firm for $2.6 Million

General Automation, an Anaheim minicomputer manufacturer, said Monday that it has sold 55% of its British subsidiary to Sanderson Electronics PLC for $2.6 million.

General Automation also said it is using $875,000 of the proceeds of the sale to purchase a 21.7% share of its Australian-Asian subsidiary from Sanderson, raising General Automation’s stake in the SGA Pacific Ltd. unit to 51%.

The transactions will allow General Automation to focus its marketing resources on the SGA Pacific subsidiary while Sanderson can concentrate on the British subsidiary, General Automation Ltd., said Leonard Mackenzie, president of General Automation.

Sanderson is a British company that owns 49% of GA.

General Automation used another $875,000 to repay debt to Sanderson. The remaining $850,000 from the sale will be used by the company as working capital, said Donald Rutherford, chief financial officer of General Automation.

SGA distributes GA computers in Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. In its first six months, SGA reported pretax profits of $985,000 on revenue of $11.2 million.