JBA Holdings Plc, the Birmingham, UK-based AS/400 software house is down to the wire on its placing of 11.875m shares, 7.75m of them new, at 160 pence per share, capitalising the company at #52.8m and raising about #11.4m net of expenses for the company. The placing is fully underwritten by Kleinwort Benson Ltd, while Kleinwort Benson Securities are brokers to the comapny. Of the #11.4m, #1.8m will be used to redeem preference shares. The balance will be used to repay existing borrowings, strenghten capital reserves and fund continuing growth. The reason behind the flotation is to enable the company to repay venture capital companies, approached in 1988. Dealings are expected to start on June 30. The company’s principal product range, Business 400, runs on the AS/400, and comprises over 30 modules covering accounting, order processing, logistics and manufacturing. It has been installed by over 2,400 customers. The group adopted a five-year strategy to expand the company and its markets was adopted in 1992. Its key objective is the re-engineering of the Business 400 into System 21, an object-oriented replacement with multi-operating system capability and will formally launch a product to operate on Unix systems in December, moving onto personal computers by 1997. As part of this process, JBA has developed the JBA Open Tool Case, to facilitate the development of new software and improve re-engineering of existing software. The company will also launch graphical applications for Business 400. The company boasts a nine-year unbroken record of growth in turnover and pre-tax profits, #4.7m on sales of #74.5m in 1993. Group sales grew strongly in the first three months of 1994, particularly in the Americas. In addition, interest in JBA’s two new products, Viewfinder and Guidelines, has been encouraging according to the company. In early May, IBM Corp, with whom JBA has close commercial and technological ties, announced that Guidelines is to form part of IBM’s client Series software product range.
