Although the UKP28m management buyout of MBS Plc’s personal computer product sales division is not yet finalised, it looks as if the final chapter in the company’s history is now under way. According to the Financial Times, a queue of companies is looking over what will become the quoted rump of MBS after the buyout. This comprises three business – maintenance and engineering, education and training, and specialist communications services, which together recorded profits of UKP1.6m on turnover of UKP14.2m last year, which means that the remaining business will be a mere shadow of the group that once had UKP100m in annual sales. Companies named as being interested in one or more of these include Granada Group Plc, Hillsdown Investment Trust and Atlantic Computers Plc. It is assumed that the loss-making Microtex distributer of Altos Computer Systems Inc machines will be sold, and even without the surviving businesses being sold, MBS should be left with net cash of over UKP18m, making it an ideal shell into which an unquoted company could reverse.
