The European Computer Leasers and Traders Association and the IBM Computer Users Association’s meeting for 250 Atlantic Computers’ lessees on Monday (CI No 1,425), was described as sombre. A CUA spokesman says that it is just a matter of time before Atlantic goes into liquidation, but some parts of the business, like the software operation and warehouse stock, are profitable and being sold off – the UKP10m-a-year Computer Systems Development Ltd and CSD (UK) Ltd have been sold with their 137 employees and the Impcon discrete parts manufacturing package, to AT&T Istel Ltd in Redditch, on undisclosed terms. The Administrators are still assessing the situation, and the complexity of Flexlease contracts mean that it will be some time before they can say when and how Atlantic’s troubles began. They were not prepared to address the question of possibly fraudulent activities. ECLAT’s advice to users is to keep up payments on the leases, and attempt to clarify the legal position with both the Administrators and head lessors. Users are also advised to check that they have been released from commitments they assumed had been paid off when Atlantic was still an apparently going concern. Several members of ECLAT and the CUA speculated that internal issues combined with overseas acquisitions and a generally lean period, led to greater expenditure than income. Others suggest that Atlantic banked on fewer users walking than flexing, but after 17 years, users are more informed about how to exploit the high-risk Flexlease contract. The Administrators were not prepared to comment on the role of British & Commonwealth Plc in the debacle, or on the fact that it has effectively divorced itself from Atlantic’s liabilities.
