As expected (CI No 1,686), Alphameric Plc, the keyboard manufacturer based in Old Woking, Surrey, has recommended to its shareholders – most of which are institutional – the sale of the business and assets of its financial trading systems division, FTT Alphameric, to British Telecommunications Plc’s wholly-owned City Business Products Ltd. The Sunbury-on-Thames Telecom company has picked up FTT for an aggregate cash consideration of UKP1.8m, UKP200,000 of which may be clawed back if certain contracts are not transferred within 90 days of completion. The funds raised will be used to reduce Alphameric’s bank debt further it stands at UKP4m before the sale of FTT. Net assets of the dealing room systems business at the year end amounted to UKP718,000 – attributable pre-tax losses totted up to UKP354,000. Some 70 staff are involved in the disposal, though chairman Alan Benjamin says the majority will be kept on by British Telecom. It has taken Alphameric six months to count up its losses for the year to March 31 – these amounted to UKP3m, down from UKP11m last time, on turnover that fell 43% to UKP13m after disposals. Last July, Alphameric sold its Portsmouth-based electronic sign business to a management buy-out, and in March PC Communications division headed in the same direction (CI No 1,630). With the completion of the FTT sale, the disposals will have raised around UKP2.5m in cash, the company reports. The group has now shed a total of 350 employees, the majority of which were kept on in the buy-outs. This has left the company with a headcount of 140, which are spread over the UK, New York and Paris, where Alphameric also has operations. The restructured group now covers three main business areas: keyboards – its traditional activity; electronic point-of-sale systems, which Benjamin says are growing well, counting the Gateway retail chain amongst its recent coups; and the new business in satellite data broadcasting systems. According to the chairman, Alphameric is now out of the holocaust, and on broadly on course to achieve a turnaround within three years. The group’s main objective now is to raise further finance – some UKP4m to UKP5m for new equipment at its production plant in Andover, and other working capital requirements. Benjamin says this will be achieved by a cash call to shareholders, details of which will be released over the next few weeks.
