Zygal Dynamics Plc has sold the maintenance arm of its consumables subsidiary, Zygal Services Ltd, to Thorn EMI for UKP1.3m in cash and commission related to future business. The outgoing business, which will remain based in its current Bicester, Oxfordshire premises, made UKP41,000 pre-tax profit, after group management charges, on turnover of UKP439,000 in the six months to September 30 1986. This compares with a loss of UKP102,000 on turnover of UKP886,000 in the 12 months to March 31 1986. Despite the improving position, Zygal accepted the Thorn EMI offer, according to managing director Con Driscoll, because the markets for maintaining Personal Computers, dot matrix printers and Convergent Technologies N-Gen multi-user boxes, Zygal’s main business, have become increasingly competitive over the past 18 months. In any case, with the rise of laser printers, Driscoll says investment is needed in extensive retraining of staff. He also says that the activities of the third party maintainers means that maintenance is no longer a necessary component of a computer company. Zygal, which has seen its share price bounce back from 18 pence to its current level in the mid-50s, is intending to spend most of the revenue from the sale on an, as yet unnamed, computer-based services company.
