Unisys Corp never managed to achieved what it was created to do, marry the mainframe technologies of Sperry and Burroughs and become a major player in the high-end systems business. But it looks as if it will achieve success – somewhat more modestly perhaps – as a top tier services company. It now claims to be the US’s seventh largest contract provider of computer services for other companies. Yesterday the company reported fourth quarter income of $138.6m compared to a loss of $936.7m that included a charge of $1bn, on revenue which rose 8% to $2.05bn from $1.90bn. It earned $387m in the year, up from a loss of $853.6m on revenues that grew 9% to $7.21m. With CEO Larry Weinbach at the helm the company has focused on services, majored on Windows NT and cut its debt by $1.1bn since September 1997. Unisys said revenues in its Information Services business rose 15% in the quarter, to $734.7m compared with $635.5m. Margins declined 0.7% although they were up 3.5% sequentially. Its Global Customer Services unit business grew 6% to $644.3m over $608.1m. Distributed computing support revenue increased in the double digits, offsetting a decline in mainframe maintenance revenue. Its computer hardware business grew 3% to $818.3m over $804.3m after exiting the PC business by outsourcing its requirements in March last year.
