WHEN two rarely dealt in shares are about to be delisted it may be tempting to exclaim: "Who cares?". But the temptation should be resisted.

After all, the Irish Stock Exchange is being denuded yet again, always a sad occasion. This is particularly so coming at the end of what has been an otherwise relatively successful year for investors.

So which companies are facing a delisting tomorrow? They have not yet told their shareholders, which is a bad reflection on them. Indeed, they have done their shareholders a disservice.

The companies to be delisted are odd bedfellows - sharing nothing but the dubious distinctions of facing a delisting and having barren dividend records. First there is Impshire Thoroughbreds, a bloodstock investment company, and second, Tribune Newspapers, which publishes the Sunday Tribune.

But their finances are like chalk and cheese. Impshire is plump with investments. In contrast, the Tribune has a negative net worth of huge proportions. So why have they both decided not to follow other companies out of the Unlisted Securities Market - to be scrapped at the end of the year - and into a full listing? Money?

This is hardly applicable to Impshire. Yes, it is an innocuous company, but a pretty rich one. It had a net asset backing of 77.5p per share as at December 31st, 1995, according to the last balance sheet. And, incredibly, that is all in cash and investments.

It has improved somewhat since then. Interim results for the halfway to June 30th, 1996, showed a rise in profits from £2,000 to £13,000.

Cash is obviously not a barrier to gaining a full listing, so it obviously must have another agenda. Three blocks of shares control the company. These consist of the estate of the late Simon Fraser, with 11 per cent, Pegasus nominees, with 28.1 per cent, while the largest block is held by Barclays nominees, with 43.9 per cent. This brings the total to 83 per cent but there would, of course, be a number of shareholders behind the nominees.

Impshire chairman, Mr Bryan Benitz, has not shed much light on where the company is going. He made his last statement last April.

This is what he told shareholders: "Our strategy is primarily the enhancement of your company's asset value and in this regard we shall continue to create liquidity as market circumstances permit."

Impshire is an ideal shell company, but without a share quotation it loses its attractiveness. It should either try to restore its quotation or wind up the company and pay off the shareholders. With the net (cash) assets per share comfortably above the last share price of 70p, the latter must always be considered an option.

No such option exists for the Tribune. Its results for the year to June 1996 are overdue. The last results to December 31st, 1995, showed turnover down 12 per cent to £3 million and a drop in pre tax loss from £896,000 to £749,000. Forever optimistic, the company has expressed confidence that despite the losses the "Sunday Tribune can be commercially viable in the long term".

However, its latest balance sheet showed a negative net worth of £7.2 million and accumulated losses of £10.1 million. And the negative net worth would be worse but for a £1.3 million value put on the title in 1986.

Although Independent Newspapers owns just 29.9 per cent of the company and has not been allowed to increase the stake beyond that point, it effectively controls the company as it has kept it in existence with loans. A delisting to its shares could well be a recognition of realities. Its £1 shares were last quoted at a nominal 1p, putting a value of a mere £29,000 on the company.

With a delisting of shares and the opting by new Irish companies for a London share listing (and the high technology companies going further afield, to the NASDAQ exchange in New York), it is even more incumbent on the Irish Stock Exchange to refresh itself.

It formally separated from the London Stock Exchange just one year ago, after 22 years of union. Instead of becoming more vibrant, it has been losing business to other exchanges.

The long awaited new market, called Developing Companies Market and earmarked for this year, has not yet started. It will have less onerous requirements, than a full listing, and will be less costly. The Irish exchange has been lobbying for tax concessions which would encourage investors to invest in DCM companies.

This market is now scheduled to be launched early in the new year. The quicker the better. Electronic trading is likely to take over from the traditional floor trading later in the year which will be another important, and necessary, development.

When the DCM is up and running, the Irish exchange should link it up with Euro NMs. The French have their Nouveau Marched and the Germans have Neuer Markt. With the Euro currency fast approaching, why should we not be among the front runners in electronic share dealings. In that way other European investors with PCs will be able to readily trade in Irish shares.

That could only enhance an interest in the Irish market.