Shares in Logitek Plc of Wigan, Lancashire has now reached a 12 month low of 15 pence, compared with its year high of 143 pence as concerns mount over its prospects. The company is structured in four divisions: Logitek Distribution Ltd comprising Azlan, Logitek Computers Ltd and Microtex, all of which handle hardware distribution, and Quadrangle which handles training; CSM Ltd, a good little earner offering professional accountancy software for the MS-DOS environment; LTSS, the maintenance, cabling and technical support division; and Microdrive Systems Ltd, which provides publishing software under Unix on Altos Computer Systems Inc machines. CSM Systems Ltd was sold in August to ComputerGroup Plc because it did not fit in with Logitek’s plans as it specialises in IBM products. Approximately 50% of Logitek’s product portfolio is Altos equipment and around 70% of the machinery maintained by LTSS is Altos-based. Indeed, it was rumoured last year that Altos UK was able to lose some jobs because Logitek was handling so much of the marketing and distribution of the Altos range in the UK. Following a profits warning in November when Logitek said that it expected interim profits to have fallen by 60%, and the year-end to come in at less than the UKP3.8m reported a year ago (CI No 1,558), Logitek has fallen quiet but its interims are due next week. But however storm- damaged the figures look, there is one prospect that should underpin the share price: the fact that so much of Altos UK business goes through the company means that Altos – and more importantly, its new par ent, the ambitious Taiwanese Acer Group, would find a big hole in its business if anything too serious were to befall Logitek. Acer has shown that it is not averse to buying into its European distributors – it bought a 50% stake in a German distributor, Ahren surg-based Ce-Tec Data Technology GmbH, in October 1989 (CI No 1,283), and Logitek does claim to be the largest Altos distributor outside the US. The curr ent Logitek share price could well start looking like an open invitation to the Taiwanese quite shortly.
