Tetra Business Systems Ltd, Maidenhead, Berkshire, has won a prestigious multi million pound deal with the West German industrial group Siemens AG. Tetra’s business and accounting software, including Chameleon, and the Materials Resource Processing system, will be sold under licence throughout the world by Siemens in the deal – expected to be worth UKP40m over the next 12 years. Siemens is to market the packages on its range of Unix systems, and has the added option of marketing any new software developed by Tetra during this period. According to Sean Dowling, Tetra’s managing director, work began on the Chameleon application three years ago with the explicit intention of addressing the continental European market, and the deal is regarded as important step in the company’s preparation for the single European market in 1992. From Siemens’ point of view it gives the company an international business product that can be used in many countries without expensive alterations to suit local requirements. Siemens has already paid Tetra UKP1.5m in advance royalties, and managing director of sales, Helmfrid Fulling described Tetra’s software as providing the most flexible solutions. The privately held Tetra Group Ltd – which consists of a spread of companies with the majority of shares held by employees – expects to see turnover of UKP16m when it closes its books on 1988, and that is up from just UKP2m in 1985. It looks for UKP30m this year and says it writes off all product development costs monthly, has a strong capital base and no venture capital. It employs some 300 people at the Maidenhead headquarters, and has development and support centres there and in Sheffield, and, overseas, in Sydney, Australia and in Dublin, Ireland. It plans to invest UKP1.5m in development this year.
