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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20549
FORM 6-K
REPORT OF FOREIGN ISSUER
PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-16 OR 15D-15 OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the month of May 15, 1998
Micro Focus Group Public Limited Company
(Translation of Registrant's Name Into English)
The Lawn, Old Bath Road, Newbury, England RG14 1QN
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
(Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.)
Form 20-F X Form 40-F
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(Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the
information contained in this form is also thereby furnishing the information to
the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934.)
Yes X No
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(If "Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the
registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2 (b): 82-795.)
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UK: 7:30 am BST Friday US: 2:30 am EDT Friday
May 15, 1998 May 15, 1998
Please contact:
Richard Van Hoesen US 650-404-7019
Senior Vice President
Chief Financial Officer
Giles Sanderson/Edward Bridges UK 0171-831-3113
Financial Dynamics
Stuart McGill UK 01635-32646
Micro Focus International
Micro Focus Acquires Italian Distributor to develop Micro Focus Italia
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London, England and Mountain View, California, May 15, 1998 - Micro Focus Group
PLC (NASDAQ: MIFGY; London Stock Exchange: MICF) announced that it has completed
the acquisition of its Italian distributor, a privately held company for USD 4.3
million in cash. The operation will be known as Micro Focus Italia srl. For the
nine months ended December 31, 1997 Micro Focus Italia reported revenue of
approximately USD 4.4 million, and an operating profit of USD 460,000. Martin
Waters, President and CEO of Micro Focus said "Our strategy is to deliver total
solutions to our customers on a global basis. This acquisition allows Micro
Focus to extend its offerings into the fourth largest IT market in Europe." The
distributor was established in 1997 after being part of a larger group for ten
years. It has been solely responsible for delivering the full range of Micro
Focus products to the Italian market from its offices in Milan and Rome.
About Micro Focus
Micro Focus (NASDAQ: MIFGY) provides solutions for developing and managing
enterprise applications that run on IBM (NYSE: IBM) mainframes. The company's
solutions allow enterprises to carry forward the value of the legacy
application base by transforming them for use with newer computing
technologies such as distributed computing and the Internet. The company's
products and services deliver outstanding value and shorten time-to-solution
through an analysis and understanding of legacy applications. Micro Focus
solutions include mainframe application development and maintenance
solutions, Year 2000 compliance solutions and distributed computing solutions
for UNIX, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows NT and the World Wide Web. Micro
Focus solutions integrate with technology offered by Unisys (NYSE:UIS),
PeopleSoft (NASDAQ:PSFT), Mercury Interactive (NASDAQ:MERQ) and others. The
Micro Focus customer and partner base includes many global 500 companies,
including Hewlett Packard Company (NASDAQ:HWP), Microsoft Corporation
(NASDAQ:MSFT), Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL), Sun Microsystems
Incorporated (NASDAQ:SUNW), The Boeing Company (NASDAQ:BA), Computer Sciences
Corporation (NASDAQ:CSC) and Bank of America Corporation (NASDAQ:BAC), EDS
and Andersen Consulting. Micro Focus is located in the US at 701 East
Middlefield Road, Mountain View, California 94043 - telephone 650-938-3700
and in the UK at The Lawn, 22-30 Old Bath Road, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 1QN
- telephone 01635 32646. For additional information on Micro Focus and its
products, visit the Micro Focus Web site at http://www.microfocus.com.
Micro Focus is a registered trademark of Micro Focus. All other companies and
products as they appear in this release are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective owners.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Micro Focus Group Public Limited Company
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(Registrant)
Date: May 15, 1998 By: /s/ Richard Van Hoesen
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Richard Van Hoesen, Sr. Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer