IBM mainframe software conversion specialist Synapse Plc is looking to mainland Europe and the US for future expansion and growth according to chairman and managing director Bill Williams. He said 1987-8 had been a year of consolidation and investment for the Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire-based company; with pre-tax profits up a modest 5.6% at UKP1.2m (See Company Results, below). Synapse claims to be the market leader for third party system support and maintenance in the UK, providing its services to nearly 400 IBM mainframe users. However it admits that the scope for further expansion in the home market is now limited. The board is now concentrating its efforts on capturing a share of the continental DOS/VSE-to-MVS conversions market, which is estimated to be worth UKP17m. A number of value added resellers, licensed to use Synapse’s conversion product Exodus, have been appointed in West Germany, Italy, Spain and Benelux but their appointment was too late to have any real impact on this year’s results. Newark, New Jersey-based Synapse Inc has been offering system software support to the American market since June 1986, but Mr Williams admits that business has been slow and the company has been a continuous loss-maker. However the Exodus conversion service was introduced earlier this year into a market reckoned to be worth $70m per annum, and the company has taken its first order worth $250,000 for a conversion of OS/VS-1 Cobol to Cobol II. The contract is expected to cover most of the subsidiary’s operating costs for the rest of the year and Synapse Inc is currently profitable on a month-by-month basis. Despite the desire to expand in mainland Europe and the US, overseas turnover accounted for only UKP165,000 out of a total turnover of UKP6.8m this year, and it will not be until next year that we will know how successful Synapse’s overseas expansion has been.
