Blick buys into South Africa

Johannesburg, 23 Mar 1999

Blick plc, the London listed on-site support systems and services group, has today (Thursday, 18 March) announced the R20 million acquisition of General Control Systems (GCS), a South African system design and development company specialising in Time & Attendance products.

Blick has acquired GCS together with the world-wide rights to its products and its intellectual capital. The company and its management will be integrated into Blick`s South African subsidiary, which has an annual turnover of around R70 million, with a pre-tax profit growth rate of 60% in the previous financial year. Blick`s client base includes a large number of blue-chip clients, such as SA`s premier gold mining houses, paper and pulp processors and retail and industrial corporations. In the 1998 financial year GCS made an estimated pre-tax profit of R2.5 million on a turnover of around R11 million. The Group is a world leader in the design and development of advanced computerised time and attendance, access control and shop floor data capture products. Its products are used for the collection, processing and distribution of workforce related information in large corporates.

"GCS brings a unique set of skills and a globally acknowledged capability of integrating with ERP systems and interconnectivity with open platform networks," said Blick SA`s MD Iain Fynes-Clinton. "GCS moves Blick`s time and attendance business from being wholly reliant on third party supplied products with attendant territorial restrictions to having its own in-house product for sale to world markets."

Blick SA and GCS currently have an estimated 30% share of the time and attendance market. Blick SA has a long working relationship with GCS.

"This acquision expands our market penetration and will ensure that Blick SA will maintain our position as a market leader. We believe this will strengthen us in our aim of achieving annual growth of about 25% in this market.

Blick

Blick is an electronics sales, service and manufacturing company. The Group is based in the UK and has operations in Holland, France, South Africa and the United States. Blick also operates through independent distributors throughout the world.

Blick sells, rents and maintains a range of integrated electronic products through five main divisions, employing over 1000 people.

These divisions are:

The Time and Security Division, which includes time recording and staff attendance systems, fire alarm and public address equipment and parking control systems.
The TV Signal Distribution Divisions which holds Blick`s TV signal distribution rental and maintenance business.
The Radio Communications Division, which manufactures and sells a range of radio paging, mobile alarm, nurse call, cordless telephony and messaging products.
The Access Control Division where Blick is the UK market leader in the manufacture of access control and door entry systems, and;
The Integrated Software Systems Division which specialises in software consultancy, HR management systems and software for systems integration and local government.

Blick SA has 204 staff members with offices throughout South Africa. The Group also has several African operations, including Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and Mali.

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