Kode International Plc is moving up into the minicomputer maintenance and rental world with agreement to acquire the business and some assets of three DEC-related subsidiaries of SK Computers (Holdings) Ltd of Letchworth, Hertfordshire for UKP2.2m cash, which will come from its own resources and from bank borrowings. The companies to be acquired are SK Computer Systems (Maintenance) Ltd; SK Rentals Ltd; and SK Computers Systems Ltd, which employ 33 people, who will transfer to Kode, on maintenance, rental and systems integration of DEC kit. The UKP2.2m will buy the goodwill, stock, fixed assets and rental and maintenance contracts of the three businesses, which together had operating profits of UKP338,000 and book value of UKP917,000 in the year ending October 31 1987. Kode, now headquartered in Bristol, will combine the maintenance and systems business with Kode Computers Ltd in Swindon, Wiltshire and operate the rental business as Kode Rentals: it will now also offer rental contracts to customers of Kode Computers and Graphic Displays Ltd. The acquisition is subject to the approval of shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting to be called shortly. As of the result, the SK group will be reduced to just two businesses, SK Microsystems, and the SK Computer Systems Ireland, and says it has no concrete plans yet for the cash it will get from the sale, beyond building up its remaining businesses. It says it needed to sell something to raise cash for expansion, and felt that the businesses that are on their way to Kode are a good fit with that company’s operations.
