According to business analyst Plimsoll Publishing, new technology can predict the success or failure of almost any proposed acquisition in the UK and Nor- thern Ireland.

The technology, Valuations, Industry analysis, Business acquisitions (VIBE) draws on a database of information from the age of a firm’s directors to details about the company’s strengths and weaknesses.

"We also identify the firms we describe as ’hidden jewels’, where the fees paid to directors have been distorting the profits for years," said Plimsoll’s senior analyst David Pattison. "This is a package of key information that is not available anywhere else in a single document."

Each report is supplied via email, or CD or on a USB memory stick.