Sanderson offloads high street retail business

IT services firm Sanderson Group said it had sold its electronic point of sale business for £11.5m.

Sanderson said the deal struck with Torex Retail Holdings would enable the group to repay its bank debt and leave a positive cash balance of around £4m.

The remaining cash will be used to invest in the further development of products and services, especially in the areas of online sales and commerce solutions, the firm said.

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Sanderson also gave an upbeat assessment of its financial year so far, saying it had maintained good trading momentum despite the poor economic environment.

"At the end of the first quarter, to 31 December 2011, order intake in the manufacturing and multi-channel businesses was almost 10% ahead of the comparative period of the previous financial year," the company said.

Investors cheered the news, pushing the company's share price up 20% in morning trading.