Admiral Plc has had a hectic year. The Camberley, Surrey-based computer services and training company has made four acquisitions and entered into a joint venture with Powersoft Corp (CI No 2,494). The agreement with Powersoft has taken an unexpected twist however, since Sybase Inc’s recent acquisition of Powersoft (CI No 2,603). Admiral had an option to pull out of the agreement if Powersoft was taken over, and while no one was saying what the plan was, Admiral executives were ready with the we’ve still got two weeks to decide whether or not to cut and run answer, when the question was not suggesting any pull-out. Admiral has a month from the Sybase takeover to decide what to do. Meanwhile, Admiral has had what it trumpets as another record year, seeing pre-tax profits rise 68% to #7.7m from turnover that was up 35% to #49.5m, which included #3.5m from Admiral’s acquisitions. The Marketing Information Database product, MIND that Admiral picked up from receivers last September (CI No 2,503) has resulted in the formation of Admiral Customer Solutions Ltd in Dublin, employing around 20 people, and it has begun to earn the group consultancy fees and maintenance contracts. Admiral Training Centres Ltd opened its fourth training centre, and its third in London, and had successful year providing training to Barclays Bank Plc, and plans to broaden its range of courses. The Australian subsidiary has had a particularly good time, returning to profit and more than doubling its staff numbers. Admiral Computing Ltd had carved out a niche for itself in the software development sector of the telecommunications market, and has won orders from various players in Britain, including British Telecommunications Plc. Orders across the group are up on the same period last year, and the board is recommending a final dividend of 5.5 pence, making a total of 8 pence for an increase of 27%.
