Macro 4 Plc, the UK-based IBM systems software house, has agreed to pay up to $30m for Insync Software Inc, the Walnut Creek, California company whose software speeds up the development of file management programs FOR OS/390 MVS mainframes. Insync only achieved pre-tax profits of $22,000 on revenues of $567,000 in 1998. However, the thought that Macro 4 will pay over 50 times revenues for the Californian outfit is fanciful. They will pay $6m in cash in regular installments over the next five years as long as Insync sales hit $2.4m a year, with proportionate reductions if they fail to hit this target. Any figure over $2.4m will give Insync shareholders a bonus of 20% of the excess. Macro 4 will introduce the Insync software into its range of fault management products.
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