UK-based distribution and software services company 4Front Group, Watford, has acquired Basingstoke-based storage distributor Hammer Distribution Ltd for a maximum sum of ú1.85m. Hammer, a 25-staff company with a turnover of ú12m, distributes Micropolis disk products and Sony tape drives in the UK. The Group’s existing storage distribution subsidiary, Compass Computer, sells a different set of products to different types of customers and will continue to trade separately, said 4Front chief executive Ken Newell. 4Front, whose other subsidiary companies include X-terminal distributor Xanadu and software house K2 Systems, has revenues of ú40m, and recently raised $20m through a US public offering of its shares on NASDAQ as 4Front Software International Inc (CI No 2,952). It says it is planning a series of acquisitions that could see it grow to ú200m revenues over the next two years.
