Following Compagnie des Machines Bull SA’s announcement last week that its 1994 revenues increased by 5.9% to the equivalent $5,600m, the French business paper Les Echos published an estimated breakdown of those revenues. Enterprise Systems – mainframes – is estimated at $1,200m and is profitable. Open Systems & Software is seen at $470m, and is unprofitable. Personal Computers – Zenith Data Systems – is estimated at $1,300m and is unprofitable, although Bull says it moved into profit in the fourth quarter. Systems Integration & Services generated some $698m and was unprofitable. Customer Services – maintenance – generated some $1,000m and was profitable. Systems Operations – facilities management – is seen at $226m and is not profitable. Bull Emerging Technologies – CP8 Smart Cards, point-of-sale was profitable on an estimated $94m. And Manufacturing, Logistics, Purchasing – the industrial unit, which is newly-created – generated an estimated $584m, half generated externally. The French business daily noted that Bull would have reported $9.5m more in profit if the unions hadn’t managed to squeeze out a concession for winning back ground on salaries frozen in 1993 and 1994. The paper also quotes Jean-Marie Descarpentries saying he expects a return to profit in the first half this year.
