Micro Focus Plc, the London, UK and Mountain View, California- based Cobol software tools company, has consummated its eight- year relationship with its Australian distributor, Advanced Software Engineering Pty Ltd, by acquiring the privately owned company for $2.4m in cash. The news comes just a few days after Micro Focus closed its previously announced $534m acquisition of Intersolv Inc, which itself has a significant presence in Australia. Paul Adams, vice president of international sales at Micro Focus, said the deal would boost profits by bringing ASE’s services staff on board, a highly profitable part of ASE’s business which wasn’t presently filtering through to Micro Focus. Adams said he hoped to boost the services element of ASE’s business to 50% from the current 20% to 30% once ASE had access to improved financing via Micro Focus. ASE currently employs around 28 staff, predominantly in Sydney, which combined with staff joining from Intersolv puts Micro Focus’ Australian head count at around 50. With approximately 400 mainframe installations throughout Australia, Adams estimates the market to be comparable in size to Italy, the fourth largest in Europe. Strong first half results at Micro Focus this year were aided by exceptional performances from its international businesses.
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