HTV Group, the independent television group for Wales and the West of England, has announced that it is take a 75% holding in British Coal’s computer bureau service Compower for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is expected to be carried out by Intecom, a wholly-owned communications company set up by HTV last month. Established by British Coal in 1973, Compower has provided its parent with computer services such as payroll and pensions. Though it no longer does any coal board business Compower now provides services to over 2,000 companies. It has expanded into electronic funds and electronic documents transfer, operating the Midnight Express service, whereby credit card transactions are electronically processed. The company employs 150 people and returned net profits of UKP721,000 on sales of UKP7.0m for the year to March 31. According to HTV chief executive Patrick Dromgoole the acquisition is the biggest in the company’s history and that the amount to be paid is in the millions of pounds.
