The 18.5 per cent stake in Unidare snapped up by Dermot Desmond and Pierce Casey has given long-suffering shareholders some comfort in the form of an improvement in the share price. That price level has been maintained in the €2.50-€2.60 (£1.97£2.05) range despite (yawn) yet another profits warning.

This latest warning came at this week's annual general meeting when chairman Jack Hayes said that the first half would be "further behind last year than we had budgeted" but held out hope of an improvement in the second half. Does anybody outside the Unidare board really care?

Chief executive Paul Duggan even told shareholders that the board had a clear acquisitions strategy building on Nasco in the US and Daalderop in the Netherlands. He said the best prospect for Unidare was to "leverage our investments by acquisition". That in simple language means borrow to buy. Hmm, given Unidare's record Current Ac- count remains unconvinced.

So far Dermot Desmond and Pierce Casey have not made contact with the Unidare board, but there aren't too many people around who believe that the two investors bought into Unidare simply to back the board. More likely that the two see the prospect of a nice profit if Unidare is sold - in part or in whole - to the management or somebody else.

Shareholders should hope Mr Desmond and Mr Casey are correct and that they are finally put out of their misery. Unidare, as a public company, has outlived its usefulness as an investment vehicle.