British & Commonwealth, erstwhile part-owner of the Telerate electronic information service, and a backer of Pauline Alker’s Counpterpoint Computer Corp, is back in the database services business, having invested UKP500,000 for 40% of a new company, Export Network Ltd, which will provide subscribing would-be exporters on-line answers to most of those tricky questions about overseas markets they are considering. For a UKP950 annual subscription fee and usage charge of UKP1 a minute, Export Network provides five sources of vital information for ex-porters. It lists foreign tenders notified by British embassies and high commissions around the world – these come in at an average 180 a day. It presents the British Overseas Trade Board’s summar-ies of the tendering procedures required by different countries and customers. It also includes current shipping and insurance rates, and additionally provides access to Citibank’s economic and political news service on 30 major markets, which runs to over 1m screens. The Export Network service looks for 700 to 1,000 subscribers within two years.
