Philip Crawford to head up InterX

InterX's share price shot up 170 pence this morning as it recorded its end-of-year results and announced plans to replace its CEO.

The company also announced plans to replace its CEO James Wickes with Philip Crawford - who will take up the position on 1 August. Crawford is currently a non-executive director of InterX and chairman of InterX Technology - Cromwell Media's new name. He was previously president of EDS International and senior vice president of Oracle UK and Ireland.

The Internet group saw pre-tax losses of £4.2 million, after exceptional items such as development of InterX's IT Network online product, for the 39 weeks ended 29 April. This date also marked the end of the company's financial year.

Sales were £293 million, of which £292 million related to Ideal Hardware - the company's IT distribution business which InterX recently agreed to sell to US distributor Bell Microproducts. This compared to pre-tax profits of £2.4 million on turnover of £318 million for the 12 months ended 30 July 1999.

InterX's share price rose 14 per cent to 1437.5 pence on the back of the news.

InterX and Ideal Hardware founder Wickes will take up the role of InterX group marketing director, and plans to expand the company's market share abroad.

"I've been very good at building up a distribution business - and I've taken the company into the Internet space," Wickes told The Register.

"Now we need to take InterX from a UK company into a global technology company. I thought it would be a wise move to move across and let Philip take over."

Wickes said he would concentrate on the branding and promotion of InterX's Bladerunner technology overseas. He aims to target companies in France and Germany in the financial services and media sectors within the next 12 months. ®