Quarterdeck software firm goes public, entrepreneur CEO cited.

Quarterdeck software firm goes public, entrepreneur CEO cited

Quarterdeck Office Systems, a Santa Monica-based developer and marketer of computer software for business applications, last month sold $3.40 million worth of stock at $10 a share, in an initial public offering managed by underwriters Montgomery Securities and Hambrecht & Quist.

Quarterdeck stock last week traded in the $12-a-share range under the symbol "QDEK" on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation Systems Exchange, otherwise known as the "NASDAQ."

Last week, Quarterdeck officers were a bit mute about their successful offering. "I'm sort of uncertain of what to say," said Therese Myers, Quarterdeck president and chief executive, noting that her lawyers do not want her to speak about the offering until July 8, due to Securities and Exchange Commission "quiet period" regulations.

Myers did state that at "our stage in our growth," a Quarterdeck public offering, which raises debt-free cash, was necessary.

Quarterdeck has posted strong growth in sales and profits in the last five years. In 1990, the 8-year-old company posted a net of $7.63 million on revenues of $26.3 million, compared with a net of $1.58 million on revenues of $8.52 million in the previous year.

And in the first half of 1991, Quarterdeck earnings rose to $6.07 million on sales of $23.1 million, compared with earnings of $2.85 million on revenues of $9.05 million in the year-earlier semester.

Their growth hasn't gone unnoticed: Myers last week was given an award by a panel of judges, at the Greater Los Angeles Entrepreneur of the Year award program, which was sponsored by Ernst & Young, Merrill Lynch and the Los Angeles Business Journal.

"We did tell them that we were going public, but I have no idea of what they (were) thinking," said Myers of the panel.

Quarterdeck produces and sells software which enhances the performance of other software on personal computers, allowing more data to be stored, and allowing different types of data manipulation. Much Quarterdeck software deals with "spreadsheet" type software to help businesses in their financial accounting. Quarterdeck products are used in conjunction with "IBM-compatible" software.

There are risks to investing in Quarterdeck stock. The industry is hotly competitive and makers of some software, such as Microsoft Corp., may upgrade their products so that they do not need enhancement by Quarterdeck software.

Additionally, the company is effectively controlled by insiders, who could easily foil any takeover by virtue of a thicket of anti-takeover company by-laws they have erected.