Following its acquisition by FKI Babcock in June 1988 for a derisory UKP1 (CI No 944) Newbury Data is emerging as an acquisitive force in the peripherals, maintenance, computer supplies and data recording head sectors. For the restructured FKI Data Recording Group has recently acquired the maintenance company Nationwide Systems Engineering from Norbain Electronics Plc (CI No 1,237) bringing the number of ewmployees witihin Newbury Data Maintenance to 120. Each of the four business units within the Group is run autonomously – the other three being Newbury Data Peripherals (which supplies disk drives, and supplies and manufactures terminals and printers) with 155 people, Newbury Data Computer Supplies with 15 employees, and Data Recording Heads, manufacturing recording heads for disk drives, with a staff of 200. As for the future, after Babcock becomes a stand-alone business, FKI will not be taking a back seat but will be encouraging each of Newbury’s businesses to expand through acquisitions. Indeed, FKI Data Recording Group describes its strategy as aggressive.
