Another company coming to market in the next few weeks is database operator MAID Systems Ltd, which was highlighted in the weekend press. The company, formerly Market Analysis Information Database, has retained Hill Samuel Ltd as its banker and Hoare Govett Ltd as its broker. Turnover in 1992 was a mere UKP3.5m, with pre-tax profits of UKP340,000, but the company is forecast to do more like UKP600,000 on turnover of UKP6m this year. The company was founded nine years ago by Dan Wagner, who was only 21 when he quit his advertising job to build an on-line information system, and won backing from Robert Maxwell, whose companies helped to develop the software and supply material from magazines to provide the information. In 1985, only one subscription was sold, but Hoare Octagon stepped in and put up UKP120,000 for a 9% stake, and that cleared his debt and enabled him to attack the US market. The company finally moved into profit in 1990, and the state of the overheated on-line information services sector has the company’s advisors putting a stratospheric UKP100m-plus valuation on the 63-employee company.
