Anite Group Plc, the Watford, UK-based networking and software company, has finally turned the corner and the shares leapt 23.7% to 73 pence on news that the company was finally back in the black. This was a company that had badly lost its way and, in the last year, it brought in a new chief executive officer and sold off its UK network integration and support services division to Cable & Wireless Plc for 47m pounds. With the cash this brought in, the company plans to build up its position in Europe. Having bought German technology consultants CMO, Anite announced yesterday the 9.5m pound acquisition of Q&R, a Dutch systems integrator. With cash balances of around 35m pounds, the group is on the lookout for further acquisitions. Nonetheless, the company has some way to go with revenues from continuing operations up a modest 3.4% to 102m pounds. It badly needs acquisitions in growth markets if it is to emulate the performance of competitors.
