The new free-standing McDonnell Douglas Information Systems Ltd, created as a buyout from St Louis-based McDonnell Douglas Corp, has now translated its 1992 figures, presented briefly last month, into US dollars, showing operating profits of $30.1m, up 22.8% on the 1991 firgure. Turnover was $247.5m, down 8.8%. The Hemel Hemstead, Hertfordshire company is now owned by a group of international investors led by Baring Capital Investors Ltd, London. Operational control of the company will remain with the existing management team under Jerry Causley as chief executive. The company retains its global ambitions, and has worldwide rights to all software and hardware products, and says there will be no change to the operational structure in any of the countries in which it operates. The company, which made its name with the Microdata Reality version of Pick, running on machines built in-house, has been moving over to software and services, which now account for 58% of total business, and on the hardware side, the company now buys in its machines. It plans to continue to increase its investment in the development of application software and associated software tools. The company employs 1,750 people worldwide, with 800 technical personnel doing design and development of application software for health services, central and local governments, municipal police departments, libraries, international banking, discrete manufacturing, and the payroll, personnel and pension markets. The firm has US headquarters in Irvine, California.
