Athlone Extrusions finance director Enda Cunningham was most emphatic this week when he said that the £3 million (€3.8 million) spent by six directors and nine managers to buy nearly 10 per cent of the company is not a prelude to the management group buying out the rest of the company and taking it private.

Current Account, however, is not totally convinced.

Athlone is the sort of company that does not really belong in the brave new world of euro zone stock markets. It certainly is profitable, but if investors want a chunk of a thermoplastics company, they have their pick of many bigger companies operating on a far larger scale than Athlone.

One must also ask why Pat Plunkett, who didn't make his money as a stockbroker by selling shares cheaply, has now chosen to sell out of Athlone entirely at such a low price.

The 83 euro cents (65p) price at which he sold his 3 per cent stake is well below last year's €1.16 (91p) price - although it has to be said that even at that 65p price, Mr Plunkett is sitting on a big, big profit on his 1990 investment in the Athlone MBO.