Telephone distributor and developer Betacom Plc of Enfield, North London continues to struggle, reporting interims with pre-tax profits down a little over 46% at UKP512,000 on a turnover attempting to stand still under the UKP7m mark. Betacom’s flotation in November was marred by the simultaneous flotation of British Steel which led to a desultory 63% take up of Betacom shares (CI No 1,072). Since then the company has been dogged by a fall in retail demand. Betacom is battling on, however, with arrangements for the distribution of its products in Spain, Holland and West Germany nearing completion, and new products being developed for the business and consumer markets. Furthermore, the company announced the acquisition of Answercall Ltd last week (CI No 1,234) which Betacom believes will strengthen its position in the answering machine market. The company’s chairman Dennis Baylin is confident about the future, adding that the company’s sales are always up in the second half.
