Instem Plc, the Stone, Staffordshire-based control systems manufacturer, has reported buoyant turnover and profits for the year to December 31 1993. The firm, which has had to contend with an over-budget major project and a string of bad debts, has nonetheless managed to pull itself out of an overdraft which this year saw it pay UKP25,000 interest, against interest received of UKP13,000 last time. Turnover jumped 35.2% to UKP19.3m in the year, while profit before tax was even more athletic, leaping 77.6% to UKP1.0m. Instem sells process control systems to nuclear installations, and to electricity distributors, power generation and pharmceutical processing, and seems to have emerged unscathed from its reorganisation last year which saw it shift from a function- to a customer-oriented approach according to chairman David Gare. In fact, Instem has even managed to up its cash reserves to UKP300,000 from UKP100,000 in the year, which does not mean that it is looking actively at acquisitions, he added. Even so, in the light of this good news, te firm is still waiting to ship its Datafox F1 system, a toxicity testing program for pharmaceutical companies, which was due to be released this time last year. This is not the first project to be late, said Gare, not mentioning that at the current spending rate of UKP250,000 on the project, the firm will be over a quarter of a million out of pocket on the system – written in Oracle by the time it ships in two months’ time. Perhaps it’s just as well that Instem hasn’t got any customers for it yet. In his year-end statement, Gare does concede that Instem’s tardiness with Datafox, along with some escalation of project costs, has reduced margins. As the firm enters its 25th anniversary year, its earnings per share are up 74.1% to 14.2p, and it has maintained final dividends at a level of 1.80 pence, giving 3.10p for the year.
