Supply chain management operation Kewill Systems Plc seems to have caught that buying fever again having bought the entire share capital of Alpha-Numeric Systems Plc and Alpha-Numeric International Ltd, electronic label and data capture system developers. The acquisition is valued at around 2.3m pounds and an initial consideration of 1.0m pounds will be settled in cash. Alpha-Numeric started out in 1981 and reported 1996 revenues of 3.6m pounds. Kewill, which said it would make further purchases this year after reporting record annual profits of 7.4m pounds on a turnover of 41.3m pounds in June (CI No 3,192). Kewill believes it has acquired a sizeable customer base, with 1,500 companies on the list and says the purchase will open up the opportunity for future joint development and marketing agreements.