London W1-based software house MMT Computing Plc is continuing its dynamic growth pattern, reporting pre-tax profits up 32% at a little over UKP2m on turnover that rose 25% to just over UKP7m. MMT has two joint ventures, one with MMT Computing (Reading) Ltd which it owns jointly with a team that came out of CAP, and one with MMT Computing (South East) Ltd where its partner is a team that left C E Heath. Both ventures have proved profitable over the year, but the outstanding performance within the group has come from its 1987 acquisition, RTL Software Services Ltd, where over the past two years profits have increased more than 10-fold. Since the year-end MMT has built its 6% stake in the financial systems consultancy Quotient Plc up to 8%, taking advantage of Quotient’s depressed share price level. MMT’s managing director Mike Tilbrook says his relationship with Quotient is an amicable one. Emphasising that he would do nothing to risk diluting MMT’s earnings per share, he hinted that a joint bid for Quotient was a possibility worth considering. Despite establishing (in a joint venture with C E Heath’s Datashore subsidiary) a specialist company, MMT Computing (AS) Ltd, for the AS/400 market in September, Tilbrook still holds true to his long-standing commitment that MMT will retain its generalist approach (CI No 306) to systems and software development. More in line with this philosophy is the creation of MMT Computing (Training) Ltd which intends to offer an inexpensive, high quality service. Tilbrook argues that MMT has the edge over companies like The Instruction Set in that it already has 200 clients in place for its training services, and can capitalise on its existing sales force to promote the new company, thereby keeping overheads low. Determined not to specialise for any vendor-specific market, MMT is strongest in the retail sector, counting Marks & Spencer, Harrods and Virgin among its clients. However, it also serves the technical and scientific sector as well as the financial and leasing markets – the latter two clearly being areas attracting Tilbrook’s attention at present.
