Bernard Panton has resigned as chairman and managing director of Oxford mainframe teleprocessing software developer Telecomputing Plc and sold shares representing 29.8% of the company – just shy of the 30% at which a full bid would be mandated – to Ferrari Holdings Plc. Ferrari paid 87 pence a share, UKP1.21m in total; Telecomputing’s shares closed ayt 93 pence on Thursday night ahead of the announcement. Tony Evans, former chief excutive of Systems Reliability Plc moves in as non-executive chairman of Telecomputing and Martin Hodson is appointed managing director. Mike Whitaker, who runs the Singer Whitaker affiliate of merchant bank Singer & Friedlander, which owns 25.7% of Ferrari – and has been building a stake in Apricot Computers Plc becomes a non-executive director of Telecomputing. Ferrari says it is taking the stake because it believes that Telecomputing which did UKP145,000 pre-tax in the half to March and looks for profits for the full year, has excellent potential for profit and growth under its new board and management.
