Ideal becomes three under Inter X wing

Distribution Annual figures show drop in profit, but improved sales.

Ideal Hardware is placing more emphasis on the services element ofs. its business as the organisation sets out to operate under three trading names to reflect this focus.

The distributor will trade as three separate arms - its services business Ideal Unisolve, the multimedia arm IT Network and Ideal Hardware Plc, which will remain as its product distribution organisation. The three subsidiaries will act as individual operating companies, under the umbrella of Inter X plc. The company's shares on the UK Stock Exchange will change from its Ideal listing to Inter X.

James Wickes, managing director of Ideal, said: 'We have focused on sales and marketing and we have always provided resellers with the back-room functions but we want to allow everyone access to them.'

As part of its services drive, Ideal will offer facilities for resellers to configure their high-end servers, load software and give on-site installation and consultancy. Wickes disputed suggestions that Ideal would look to sell off parts of the business in the future.

The move comes as Ideal released its annual figures for the year ended 31 July, showing a turnover of #230 million and pre-tax profit of #8.71 million. The figures compared with last year's results of #189.5 million revenue and pre-tax profit of #9.71 million.

Wickes said: 'The market has been an uncertain place and we have made a lot of changes. Things are looking very good for us and we are happy with our performance.'

Ideal issued a statement in June, warning of gloomy conditions in the storage market (PC Dealer, 17 June). Wickes said the uncertainty was now over and that storage requirements were expected to increase by 50 per cent.

Ideal's share price rose 37.5p on 12 October - the same day its results were released - to finish trading at 222.50p. The figures also showed that gross margin on UK and European sales was 13.6 per cent, compared to 4.2 per cent for the same period. The drop in margin was due to Ideal's stand to sell high-volume, low-margin products to gain a foothold in Europe.