The Multimedia Corp Plc hopes to be listed under Rule 4.2 by the end of February, but does not plan to raise fresh capital until the end of this year or early 1996, according to London brokers Shore Capital Stockbrokers Ltd. The London-based software company applied for a listing last month. It began as a small division of the British Broadcasting Corp 10 years ago and formed as a separate company five years ago with the help of a cash injection from the Markle Foundation, a US charitable institution that now holds a 13% stake in the company. The BBC could not allocate funding for what was a non-linear broadcasting unit so a management buyout took place in 1990. The BBC still retains a 7% stake. The largest shareholder at 40% is Inoco Plc which injected venture capital about 18 months ago. The founders, management and staff own 37% and Shore Capital has the remaining 3%. The Multimedia Corp expects to make a loss of between ú50,000 and ú100,000 for the fiscal year to December, although Shore C apital said it is projected to make a profit during 1995. The Multimedia Corp initially began making laser disks for the Doomsday Project and later laser disks for training. It consciously made the shift into the multimedia market and the company’s bread and butter now is bespoke corporate work for the likes of IBM Corp, British Telecommunications Plc, Apple Computer Inc and Microsoft Corp. Its top selling product is 3D Atlas, a ú65 CD-ROM reference reference work published by Electronic Atlas for the Macintosh to explore major world cities at street level. It also includes video data on environmental change and satellite flights over mountain ranges such as the Alps and Himalayas. A Windows version is due in March. The company is currently developing an interactive television system with BBC Education to demonstrate the potential of interactive learning and creating a client-server database for a major UK magazine publisher for visual digital records.
