Powerscreen announced yesterday that Quinn Direct Insurance has taken a 6.11 per cent interest in the Northern Irish engineering group. Quinn Direct, the three-year-old general insurance company owned by the Sean Quinn Group, has 5.68 million of Powerscreen's ordinary shares. The share price closed at 80p sterling yesterday on the London Stock Exchange.

Quinn Direct had a £19 million turnover in 1996, up £7 million on the previous year, increasing its market share from under 1 per cent to 1.41 per cent.