The effect of Microvitec Plc’s buying spree in 1994 will not be fully apparent until next year. The Bradford, West Yorkshire-based international systems and services group bought four companies last year, for a total of around ú4.5m. Turnover for the year was up 25% to ú44.1m, with the new companies contributing just ú668,000. The company would not divulge any targets for them in 1995. Pre-tax profits jumped 59% to ú2.6m. Microvitec now plans to apply for a full listing on the London Stock Exchange, moving up from the Unlisted Securities Market. The multimedia arm of the business was boosted by the MPEG encoding contract won last year from British Telecommunications Plc (CI No 2,570) for its video on demand trials, beginning this year. The Displa y and Peripherals division, into which Perex Ltd was subsumed last year (CI No 2,570), developed two products in 1994, a range of liquid crystal display monitors and a dealing room monitor. It has won orders from a Dutch bank for dealing room monitors and a French systems integrator for monitors for use in automatic teller machines. The software division’s Integrated Publishing Systems Ltd won an order from the Star Newspaper group in South Africa, and the networking business continues to prosper, particularly in the Token Ring transceiver market. The company has reduced its gearing from 48% to 28% and has ú3.4m in the bank, so further acquisitions cannot be ruled out. The board has recommended a small dividend of 0.4 pence per share, but it paid nothing last year.
