Powersoft Corp has unveiled details of its UK company, formed by the joint venture between itself and Admiral Plc announced earlier this month (CI No 2,479). Powersoft will buy out Admiral’s interest by 1996, for no more than UKP14m. Thus far, Powersoft has paid Admiral UKP2.1m for a 51% share of the business of the distribution and provision of support, maintenance and training for Powersoft products Admiral has been handling. Admiral estimates this part of its business has a turnover of UKP2.4m a year. Powersoft will buy a further 25% of the company for cash next summer and the remaining 24% by June 30 1996; this sum will be calculated in relation to future turnover. Thirteen of Admiral’s staff now work for Powersoft UK; 12 from Powersoft Europe have joined from the Maidenhead, Berkshire offices and new staff has been taken on to bring the total to 32 people. The new company will be based at Admiral’s offices in Camberley, Surrey, but Powersoft Europe says it is out of space at its offices and will be relocating. When it does, Powersoft UK will join it. Admiral claims it is happy with the deal, which will see it losing a chunk of its business. It will still deal in Powersoft’s products but as a software developer, trainer and commercial applications developer. Powersoft says it has formed the company to take advantage of the growing client-server market. It says that Admiral was excellent at bringing in high-end corporate customers but it needs channels for volume distribution. Powersoft UK says it plans to keep its current customer base and expand out of corporations and into the personal computer market. It will have what it calls PowerChannel Partners; enterprise level systems developers with training and consultancy capacity; Admiral is now one of these. Other planned relationships will be with what Powersoft describes as commercial application partners, application builders that use PowerBuilder, and systems integrators who use PowerBuilder, the graphical user interface development tool on which Powersoft has prospered. Powersoft also promises to offer levels of support to suit all types of user: 30-day support after installation; auomated technical support such as bulletin boards; infrequent written information; traditional annual contracts; and customised support.
