The company needs to be careful, or it will find itself growing to such a size that it attracts the predatory attention of Computer Associates International Inc, but San Jose-based Boole & Babbage Inc, raking in the cash and with a rising share price, has been telling Reuters that it is looking for rival software companies to buy, with the aim of doubling its annual turnover in three years, and the $25m in shares spent on McLean, Virginia- based MAXM Systems Corp last year (CI No 3,082) is just the beginning. We want to be in a position where people have to consider us when they are looking for this type of software, Paul Newton, Boole & Babbage chief cxecutive said, referring to the Command/Post systems management software. Since Newton took control of Boole in October 1991, he has worked to grow it to the point where it is in a position to join the majors. He has grown sales 51% to $167.2m over the four fiscal years to September from $110.5m in 1992. Total assets more than doubled to $207.1m in the same period and the shares over the past 12 months have doubled to $23. We would like to do a couple more of these, Newton said, referring to the MAXM acquisition. We have a decent stock price, we got a reasonable amount of cash, and we have a much more efficient engine for selling and distributing product. Boole & Babbage also needs to expand its client-server side against the day when the fading mainframe dies, and the aim is for half the firm’s business to come from client-server management tools by 1998, up from about a third now.
