British Dredging, the publicly quoted builders merchant, under the takeover sights of Grafton, the Woodies DIY group, has taken the unusual step of suspending the payment of its final dividend. It has also postponed the annual general meeting.

British Dredging had already declared a final dividend of 3.6p per share. It was due to have been paid on May 22nd. Shareholders will now have to wait.

The a.g.m. was called for May 15th. This has now been delayed until June 19th. The British company has not explained the moves, other than referring to a February 11th announcement that an approach had been received that may, or may not, lead to an offer. It added "whilst discussions continue, the board have decided to suspend payment of the final dividend for the year ending December 31st, 1997".

Negotiations between Grafton it has a 29.9 per cent stake in the British company and British Dredging, while fairly tentative, are understood to have become more intense recently. Reliable industry sources have suggested the British Dredging board was not confident that the negotiations would have reached a meaningful stage by May 15th so it had decided to postpone the meeting for a month.

However, different sources said British Dredging may be involved in a separate, unidentified development.