Time called on Infinity trio

By ADAM GIFFORD

Three familiar names on the IT scene are set to disappear next month, when systems integrators Comtex, Madison and Trilogy merge to become Infinity Solutions.

The three companies are 100 per cent owned by Infinity Group, a company set up by former Brierley Investments executives to invest in the IT sector.

Chief executive Ross Baker said the companies do the same kind of services with different customer bases. "They have over 1000 customers, but only three customers overlap."

Through Comtex and Trilogy, respectively, Infinity is the majority shareholder in assets management company RDT Pacific and computer hardware reseller TLC.

"Bringing together these three companies will be our first major milestone, but we haven't stopped since we started in May," Mr Baker said.

"We've gone from nothing to $100 million annualised revenue in a short time."

It also has 560 staff spread among its 11 companies. Mr Baker said the five software companies in the Infinity Group would continue to trade as separate ventures.

The group is 35.4 per cent owned by Active Equities, which was founded by former Brierley Investments' executives Bruce Hancox, Paul Collins and Patsy Reddy.

The remaining stake is held by the directors, employees and former shareholders of Trilogy, Madison and Quanta.

Infinity Group reported a loss of $17.8 million for the year to June 30 due mainly to an $18 million writedown of goodwill from its recent investments. But it is forecasting a profit of $8 million in the year to December 2001.

The group wholly owns Merit Solutions and Quanta Systems, 75 per cent of Sydney intranet and extranet developer InfoVista and half of web developer Netbyte and Vista Entertainment Solutions, a joint venture with Village Force Cinemas to develop theatre software.

It also owns 43 per cent of e-see International, a web-based brand management and distribution system, which comes under the umbrella Infinity Ventures.

Infinity Ventures is supposed to be a provider of venture capital to e-business, and other new and emerging technologies which will be higher risk ventures, but will offer potentially significant returns.

Mr Baker said Infinity Group intended to list on the Stock Exchange before the end of June 2001, if conditions were right.

It is also looking to buy companies which will allow it to expand and develop the range of services available within the group. Infinity completed a private placement of 8 million shares at $1.25 a share in August and a further 8.5 million shares as part of the acquisition of all of the shares in Comtex Group.