Monitor manufacturer Microvitec Plc of Bradford is beginning to reap the rewards of diversifying its product range. While its core business is in the education sector, the company claims that its 25% increase in pre-tax profits to UKP1.8m was largely due to the performance of its OEM division where major contracts were secured with both Reuters and British Telecom. Indeed, the British Telecom deal has recently been extended by a further UKP5.5m. As regards its education market, Microvitec has been pushing its MS-DOS Cub Pack educational range with qualified success, but intends to develop and extend the range in an effort to stem the erosion of the sales of the stand-alone monitor. The graphics division has made UKP1m of sales in the CAD market, and following the introduction of its Infinitiv 1 Graphics Board into the Apple market last autumn (CI No 1,027) intends to focus on graphics systems products for commercial and industrial applications by setting up a new, larger graphics division. Further products are also planned for terminal sales in the UK distribution market, where turnover has been down over the past year. Meanwhile, the new interactive video division which markets the integrated I/V workstation and laser disk cutting service for the Insight range is optimistic about its future following the news that British Coal and the John Lewis Partnership have become users. The company’s overseas sales increased by 50% and now contributes 20% of the group’s turnover. In particular, the US subsidiary Microvitec Inc produced pre-tax profits up 143% to UKP243,000 on OEM contracts including one worth $1m from Morgan Bank for dealing room monitors. In Europe sales were reported to be strong in France and Switzerland, useful in Italy and Sweden, and suffered a downturn in Germany. In the near future Microvitec will continue to widen both its overseas base and its product range as a survival tactic in what it describes as the volatile business of monitor manufacture so that it can continue to report solid progress next year.
