Following news of Kewill Systems Plc’s 69% increase in pre-tax profits to UKP726,000 on a turnover of UKP5.4m (CI No 1,098), the company has announced the acquisition of Omicron Management Software Ltd for UKP2.4m. Kewill bought out the 47% stake in Omicron which tour operator Owners Abroad owned, for UKP1m cash and the issue of 600,000 shares. In the last financial year Omicron made a pre-tax profit of UKP100,000 on sales of UKP2.2m, but contributed UKP20,000 to an overall UKP1.1m loss from associated companies in Owners Abroad’s results for 1988. Kewill and Omicron are a good fit, since Kewill has been one of Omicron’s main dealers for several years, providing Omicron’s financial software on its own manufacturing management systems. Omicron’s products include PowerPlus and Power C financial management suites as well as the recently launched EXecutive Information System, EXIS. Omicron will be run as an autonomous member of the Kewill Group and no immediate changes are planned at the company’s headquarters in London W or at its research and development plant at Telford. Tom Angear, Omicron’s chairman, will take a non-executive seat on the Kewill board, while Omicron’s managing director, Peter Cullum will head the Omicron division within the Kewill group as well as sitting on the group’s board. This acquisition follows that of Pick-popper Trifid Software Ltd in November 1987 (CI No 831) and the computer services division of Lawtex Plc, Xetal Systems last December. Kewill says it will use Omicron’s network for its own products, and sees scope for technical collaboration. No doubt such collaboration will focus on the development of applications for the Pick operating system.
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