The consensus in France is that Siemens-Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG will take a 20% stake in ravaged micromaker SMT-Goupil SA, although neither side will confirm or deny the reports, and Siemens-Nixdorf stresses that it is discussing technical and industrial agreements. Whatever the details of the deal, it seems likely to be very bad news for Goupil’s plants and many of the 1,050 employees, who have already suffered from late payment of salaries, since it is difficult to see Siemens-Nixdorf wanting to get involved unless the company represented a major additional outlet for its own microcomputers. Goupil had expanded fast on the back of a 35% annual growth rate in the French personal computer market from 1985 until 1990, when growth slowed to 17% and Goupil ran into the buffers because it had budgeted for sales of $220m in 1990 but did only $140m in the 15 months to March.
