Acorn Computer Group Plc has, in the words of its managing director, Sam Wauchope, seen a dissapointing operating result for the period. One look at its interim results demonstrates why; pre-tax losses for the group were UKP2.0m on turnover flat at UKP23.7m. Wauchope says that there are grounds for encouragement in Acorn Computers Ltd current position but its hard to see given that it, too, made a loss. The company believes this to be as a result of changing patterns in educational spending as budgeting and financial management move away from local authorities to school themselves, and also a delay in customer purchases with the market waiting for the launch of its new RISC personal computer. The launch cost of this machine, together with expansion of Acorn Computers’ overseas activities proved a further drain on resources. Acorn says its RISC personal computer has been well received by current and targeted customers given its ability to offer IBM-PC compatible performance alongside native RISC OS applications. Acorn made UKP500,000 from its 43% share in Advanced RISC Machines Ltd, but UKP400,000 of it went into the new multi-media arm, On Line Media, which was set up to exploit the ARM RISC in television set-top decoder boxes. It sees longer term revenue for On Line coming from custom design, technology licence sales, authoring software sales and consultancy.
