Erskine House Group Plc of Sevenoaks, Kent appears to be in difficulty with its Office Systems Division, which is made up of two acquisitions: Quest Group Plc and Electronic Printing Systems. The group posted a profits warning in April (CI No 1,406). It now reveals that problems are so severe in this division that it is closing down its typewriter and word processor distribution activities and cutting back on personal computer sales. To this end, Erskine which used to find selling personal computers to the Soviet Union (via its Quest International subsidiary) a healthy business until the recent economic troubles, is treating it as a discontinued operation. Quest distributes Apricot hardware to the Soviets, and although it is now off Erskine’s books, the group is looking to sell part of this business. Reorganisation at Erskine Communications meant that it did not perform well – it was held back by a change in its core product as it moved from Konica to Ricoh as a supplier. Although Canon distributor Erskine Business Machines shone among the UK businesses by doubling its profit, its performance was not strong enough to pull the others up. Another strong performance was to be found in the group’s US photocopier operations which doubled profits on turnover that grew by 84% to UKP122m. These operations now account for 67% of the group’s profit. The West German photocopier companies also performed well, producing an operating profit of more than UKP1m. Discontinued operations left an extraordinary charge of UKP5m on the profit and loss sheet; long term borrowings stand at UKP51.
