Cambridge, UK-based Tadpole Technology Plc is pinning its hopes on shipments of its Digital Equipment Corp Alpha 21066-powered Alphabook I announced in December 1995 (CI No 2,808), to bring it back to profitability at the earliest opportunity. The company saw losses tumble to 1.7m British pounds from 5.9m pounds for the same period last year on turnover that rose 14% to 13m pounds in the six months to March 31. Tadpole has appointed Pioneer- Standard Electronic Inc as the first North American distributor of the Alphabook I, a distributor with 53 branches and a large network of value-added resellers, and believes this should boost sales of the product considerably. The company has also, it said, improved manufacturing efficiency and quality and improved component pricing, resulting in a four percentage point increase in gross margin over 1995. Chairman Richard King promised that Tadpole will continue to control costs and strengthen its distributor and value added reseller network this year. He says he looks for this strategy to result in a further reduction in losses in the second half of the fiscal year.
