The last vestige of the UK National Enterprise Board’s ill-conceived and ill-fated Nexos attempt to create an office automation giant from nothing has disappeared with the acquisition of Nexel Ltd by Pick-popper Universal Computers Ltd of Rotherhithe, London. UCL is paying UKP1.3m for the Thame, Oxfordshire office systems third party maintenance company, about 5% of the consideration in UCL shares, the balance in cash. Nexel more than doubles UCL’s size, creating a group with almost UKP12m turnover and 247 employees, against the UKP6.25m and 115 staff that make up UCL’s business with Ultimate, Tandem, Altos and IBM Personals under Pick – and diversifies it into Unix support.
