Total Systems Plc, the London Unlisted Securities Market-quoted computer systems house, leapt into the last century and dug into Dickens to achieve another successful year with pre-tax profits up 10% to $832,906. We got there by adopting nineteenth century fiscal policies – cash in must exceed cash out, said chairman Terence Bourne. Cash balances were up 53.4% to UKP1.9m while cash generated in the year was down 35.3% at UKP648,894. He said the firm succeeded through frugality in the face of poor market conditions and despite potential users’ resistence to new technologies. For an intelligent industry we are remarkably stupid, with people still buying out-of-date systems, railed Bourne, including IBM Corp AS/400s in this. Consequently, the sales department was the one area of the company to get extra investment, since the sales team needs to spend much of its time educating customers. Some of that time has evidently paid off: the firm’s push into local government is starting to make returns and both the Optima fund management package and Ultima insurance program continue to do well, said Bourne, with a 2.6% rise in turnover to UKP2.9m. He said Ensign Motor Policies, a division of the Lloyds’ Bankside Syndicate, cut costs by 70% as business increased by 30%, once it installed Optima. Total is about to open an office in Holland on the back of a newly-won Optima contract, to complement its Bristol and London sites. Bourne is optimistic about the coming year, and is keen to acquire another systems house soon, although finding a suitable subject is proving difficult.
