John Hatherly, M&G Investment Management
Northgate Information Systems (68.75p)
As the former MDIS, Northgate had a disastrous operational history and
stockmarket performance, having delivered eight profits warnings. A
new management team of Chris Stone and Geoff Bicknell is focusing the
company on its core skills in the public and commercial sectors, where
client relationships remain good, and there are significant
opportunities to implement work based on the newer technologies.
Northgate is also developing a strong and growing base of recurring
revenues. While the share price has recovered somewhat, the valuation
is still low given the opportunity to grow the margins towards 10 per
cent over the next 18 months and the good growth being experienced in
the on-going business. The last set of results suggests that current
trading is better than might be expected given the current gloom in
the technology sector.