After recent figures that have seen the company growing steadily, software and services company Vistec Group Plc has hit a wall. Steven Beach, managing director of the company’s Sphinx Level V Unix software distribution arm resigned on Friday – it was an amicable departure says Vistec chairman Bob Morton, who denied that the any connection with the drop in sales. Morton described his company as pausing for breath and blamed the disappointing performance, with pre-tax profit down 14% to UKP1.1m on the continuing UK recession. Trading in the first half was patchy he said. On the Unix side however, the company also blamed its flat figures on established products reaching maturity. Morton said that new products taken on over the last six months show growth potential with good margins but refused to name any of these rising stars, lest competing distributors get ideas. Neither was he making any predictions about the full-year figures, but said he remained very bullish about the future. The company says that significant new service and support contracts won should start to contribute to profits in the second half. Certainly Vistec is continuing its acquisition programme. A week ago, the Belper, Derbyshire firm announced that it was buying ISO Communications for an initial of UKP500,000 and a deferred payment equal to as three times ISO’s aggregate pre-tax profits over the next 18 months – up to a maximum of UKP1.6m. ISO specialises in network design, implementation and service provision and Morton said that he had his eye on other networking purchases. Cash at hand and in the bank before the ISO purchase had swelled by 73% over the six months to 4.5m. The firm is maintaining the interim dividend at 0.125 pence.
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