Losses lead to ICL PC exodus

A whopping #188 million loss after charges forced ICL to pull out of PCs and sell off its D2D contract manufacturing facility, but the company said it will hang on to its autonomous distributor, Technology.

ICL chief executive officer Keith Todd said Technology was core to the company's future strategy and that the proposed MBO would not happen. 'I told (Technology MD) Marianne van Ingen that she has done an excellent job. Their lower margin business is good. There was uncertainty, particularly when (former MD) Derek Lewis left, but we're keeping it,' he said.

George O'Connor, IDC research manager, said: 'The link between Technology and ICL's strategic plan might be tenuous.' Despite a 17 per cent rise in turnover of #3.1 billion for the year to December 31, losses in PCs have prompted ICL to hand 80 per cent of ICL volume products to parent Fujitsu. ICL's plan includes another 1,000 job cuts in 1996, as it moves further into the services and systems business, which contributed #26 million profit in 1995, compared to #91 million in 1994.

The company has launched an enterprise software business and an interactive services business. Todd said that ICL's planned flotation will go ahead, backed by a #200 million rights issue underwritten by Fujitsu. The #188 million loss includes an exceptional charge of #151.5 million in restructuring costs covering empty buildings, inventories and redundancies.

Todd said ICL has progressed with restructuring, but the high costs of setting up volume products' distribution channel and #11 million acquisition of German distributor Aquarius contributed to the loss. He claimed the demerger of volume products, which lost #57 million in 1995, will create a global Fujitsu PC business, which can use economies of scale and a worldwide presence to greater effect.