Supply problems continue to dog UK maker of 1.8 disk drives, Calluna Plc. In its first full year since admission to the Unlisted Securities Market in October 1994, pre-tax losses more than doubled to 4.9m British pounds from 2.2m pounds in the 39-week period before, on turnover of 2.9m pounds against 847,000 pounds. And the company’s projected move into profit has slipped back yet again. At the halfway stage chairman David Dace said Calluna had resolved its supply problems and would look to the second half for reversal of fortunes (CI No 2,825). Manufacturing output would be substantially increased and financed from existing funds, and it hoped to break even by this summer, said Dace. But bumper revenues in the second half were not sufficient to offset what Dace refered to as undoubted operational difficulties, attributable to two factors. First was the delay in bringing the 260Mb Callunacard into full production due to a shortage of magnesium die castings. Calluna has since adopted a manufacturer of machine-from-solid aluminium baseplate and cover, and said early production yields are encouraging. Secondly, the company decided to leap-frog the 340Mb generation others already had out, and concentrate on being first to market with a 520Mb Callunacard.
Virus Isolator
The 520Mb program is progressing well and the company expect first prototypes to ship next month. In the meantime, Calluna said that in the light of anticipated demand for the 520Mb range, it is actively seeking a partner to assist in high volume production of its drives. Discussions have already been held with unspecified manufacturers. As part of a European-wide consortium, the company has been awarded significant grant-aided funding under the Esprit programme of the European Commission to develop a 1.2Gb 1.8 drive. Gossip circulating last February (CI No 2,858) of a built-in device that automatically checks disks for viruses was hotly denied by the company, but it appears there was some truth in it and Calluna has an exclusive and perpetual technology license from Arendee Ltd, a non-trading private company with intellectual property assets. The license allows Calluna to develop a Virus Isolator, which should guarantee virus containment independent of virus type in hard disk drives. A wholly-owned Vircon Ltd subsidiary will handle the project, and first prototypes will be out in the autumn. It is our ultimate strategy, said Dace, to embed it in our hard disk drives as standard. It is also developing data encryption prototypes. Break-even on a monthly basis is now seen this year, but Calluna has had to go for more funds with a placing of 2.7m shares at 113 pence per share. Money raised will be used to fund development and growth plans. It will seek a full London listing at the end of the year and is also eyeing Nasdaq.
