Woking, Surrey-based keyboard manufacturer Alphameric Plc, still struggling to recover from the slump in business from the City following the 1987 stock market crash, has finally added up the figures for the year to March 31 1990, revealing kitchen sink-style pre-tax losses of UKP11.5m, up from UKP1.3m last time, on turnover down 1.7% at UKP23.3m. These losses were as forecast in March (CI No 1,386) and are made up of losses from the non-core businesses and excess overheads in the two core operations, financial systems and keyboard manufacture. In addition, Alphameric has been writing off intagible assets – its policy had been to capitalise internally created software such as the Open Trading System developed by FTT Alphameric – but now feels that writing off these assets now will be more profitable for the future. As agreed at the shareholders meeting on March 30, a financial reconstruction has been implemented and a new board of directors appointed to embark on the recovery, revival and future growth plans for the group. This rationalisation plan is expected to take three years to return the group to profitable growth and has so far involved the sale of the data broadcasting business to British Aerospace. Alphameric has also been considering selling its subsidiary company, PC Communications Ltd, saying that although the company is performing profitably, it is out on a limb with its focus on communications software Kenneth Smith, financial director for Alphameric, comments that PC Communications is therefore still effectively for sale. He kept his cards close to his chest when asked about new contracts that might be in the pipeline for the allegedly prospering Open Trading System which is supplied by FTT to leading banks around the world, and says that all will be revealed at the October annual meeting. As regards the OEM division, Alphameric is encouraged with the level of recent orders on the French side, particularly for the six different printer circuit boards which have been developed so that the point-of-sale terminals can be tailored to the individual needs of the customer – Smith commented that whereas the UK is more custom keyboard-oriented, the French are currently big on point-of-sale terminals – but, again, Smith was not giving away where the French interest was coming from. Alan Benjamin replaced Geoff Bristow as chairman of Alphameric two weeks ago (CI No 1,492), leaving Bristow to concentrate on the group’s recovery. It seems a takeover would still be very welcome but, once again, Smith would not say whether any serious offers had been made.
