Gresham Computing Plc, previously known as Gresham Telecomputing, has developed what it feels is a lucrative mix of legacy and open system software products that have provided a boost to what must be one of the smallest companies in turnover terms on the London Stock Exchange. The Southampton, Hampshire-based software, consulting, recruitment and contract staff company reported pre-tax profits up 81% in the year to October 31 to ú1.3m on turnover up 22% at ú7.9m. The company said its middleware products, including DataServe, IDSMX Access and Oracle Gateway made good progress as organisations decided to maintain their data on mainframes. Managing director Chris Swinbank has spoken in the past of the mainframe being around for many years to come as a filing cabinet surrounded by Unix systems running the applications (CI No 2,686). The company has 20 mainframe software products. Dataserve is an ICL Plc mainframe product sold mainly in the UK and IDSMX Access is the version for open systems, mainly sold in the US, but new customers were also won in Europe during the year. The consulting services division has had a sucessful year in both the mainframe and open system markets and Gresham Computer Personnel reported greatly improved profits, acording to the company. Chairman Hamish Donaldson pointed to the new products, such as DataServe, the Transaction Protocol monitor used by Dun & Bradstreet Software inside its Open Millienium system, and the IDSMX Access product as areas the company needed to grow in the current year. There are further products currently in development, he added. The company has no gearing and Donaldson said it has a vision for the future that augurs well for the business.
