Adverse market conditions were blamed for postponement of the flotation of computer memory and components distributor Datrontech Plc of Aldershot, Hampshire. But its flotation plans are now back on track. Advisor NatWest Markets now plans to float the company this spring. Datrontech, which was founded by childhood friends Ian Boyle and Steve King back in 1987, made ú2.5m profits on a turnover of ú43m in 1994, a 53% rise on the preceeding year. It anticipates sales of ú60m for 1995. The company is expected to be valued at around ú50m. The flotation will raise funds to expand the 90-employee company by two thirds. The company estimates that the UK memory market is set to grow by 14% each year to 1997 and the worldwide market will increase by 26% until 2000. It furthermore predicts that the worldwide shortage of dynamic random access memory chips is so acute that demand could outstrip supply by up to 20% – a claim that is substaniated by Kingston Technology Corp’s ú6.7m investment in stockpiling memory chips. Datrontech buys memory chips from Kingston Technology and the company’s investment is intended to secure at least three months’ supply of 4M-bit and 16M-bit Single In-line Memory Modules so that it can meet the requirements of distributors such as Datrontech. The flotation will therefore facilitate the necessary expansion needed in order for Datrontech to meet the increasing demand for DRAM chips. According to the company, upgrading memory is a fast-growing sector since the recession has encouraged users to look at upgrading current hardware rather than trading it in for the latest model. The need for more memory will also be fuelled by the advent of more voluminous software which will need ridiculous amounts of memory to run applications, says the company. According to Mark Leeson, product manager for Datrontech, the key to its success is fairly simple. It has added value to microprocessors made by IBM Corp, Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp by testing them to ascertain which machines they will work with.
