ANGLO US industrial giant Hanson plc said yesterday it would reorganise into four separate companies in a bid to streamline its business and in future profits.

The four companies would cover the areas of energy, chemicals tobacco and building material and equipment.

The first three firms will be separately quoted, while the arm, which posted a 15 operating profit of 286 million pounds, will retain the Hanson name and its in London and New York.

Hanson's move marks the latest in a string of recent corporate demergers such as the break ups of US giant ITT and mining to hotels conglomerate Lonrho. Music and leisure group Thorn EMI also plans to split up.

"We are making this exciting and radical move to create even greater management and growth opportunities," co founder and chairman Lord Hanson said in a statement.

The demergers were also intended to "improve the operations, profitability and long term prospects of these four major, businesses, which will become substantial public companies in their own right," he added.

The tobacco and chemical firms, which made 1995 operating profits of respectively £385 million and £591 million, are expected to be demerged by the end of September.

The listing of the energy arm, which made a profit of £460 million, will probably follow before the end of the year.

The deal represents Lord Hanson's final sweeping move before retiring from the board in 1997 after having expanded the giant conglomerate with Lord White, who died last year, through a series of aggressive takeovers in the 1980s.

During his final year, Hanson plans to "supervise all these changes on shareholders' behalf" as chairman of the building related companies.

The demerger promises to enliven today's annual meeting in London and give Hanson's shareholders a distraction from the dull trading outlook for 1996, which has been overshadowing the group's prospects and share price recently.