Horizon looks to Internet

Horizon Technology plans to expand its Internet services operations with acquisitions costing €20 to €40 million (€15.7 to €31.5 million), Horizon's chief executive has stated. As Horizon reported a doubling in profit of €11.3 million, Mr Samir Naji said the firm had completed two Internet acquisitions worth €10 million in the past year. "We'd be looking a bit higher for acquisitions moving forward, somewhere between the €20 million and €40 million mark."

Mr Naji also hinted that the group might consider selling off its Clarity distribution business within the next two years. Clarity - which distributes Compaq, HP, IBM, Cisco, Apple and 3Com products - accounted for 45 per cent of Horizon's total €296.4 million sales but, with gross profits of €11.6 million, accounted for only 24 per cent of gross profits.

This proportion of gross profits is set to fall as Horizon expands further into the Internet services business and Mr Naji said Clarity would account for about 17 per cent of gross profits in the current year. "We'll keep it for the moment. When it accounts for, say, 15 per cent of gross profit, then we'd look at doing something with it," he said.