MATHEW HORSMAN

Beleaguered computer company Tadpole Technology confirmed the extent of its troubles at an extraordinary general meeting yesterday, telling shareholders it expected a pounds 9.3m loss in the year ending 30 September 1995.
By the end of the third quarter this year losses had already reached pounds 7.7m, on revenues of pounds 18.6m, the company said yesterday. Tadpole will also make a pounds 700,000 provision to revalue component inventory.The shares closed unchanged at 81p. Analysts said all the bad news had already been incorporated in the share price. A block of 1.25 million shares was placed with institutions at 201p early last year, before problems developed across the company’s computer range.Gordon Grey, chief executive, said Tadpole was on track to report an operating profit in the first half of 1996 on the basis of internal sales forecasts.

A US subsidiary of Nations Bank had provided a debt facility of up to $6m (pounds 3.75m), subject to debt cover targets being met, replacing a facility of $2.5m.Poor market reception to the company’s line of laptop computers, as well as higher-than-expected administration costs, combined to squeeze profits starting in late 1994.Mr Grey told shareholders in May that the losses were “unacceptable and hard lessons have been learnt”.The company would reduce costs and derive higher revenues through the sale of new product lines, he said.But earlier this year, Tadpole said its financial position had deteriorated to such a degree that an automatic EGM under the Companies Act was triggered.. EDWARD HELMORE

Los Angeles
Microsoft shares jumped almost 5 per cent to $97.75 yesterday on news that the US Justice Department will not take anti-trust action against the company before the 24 August launch of Windows 95.While the Justice Department’s decision does not rule out enforcement action after the launch of the new operating system, the element of uncertainty surrounding the launch has been removed, dealers said.The decision has lifted a cloud that has been hanging over the software industry. In a two-sentence statement the Justice Department said it did not rule out action at a later date.It is believed to still be considering whether to compel Microsoft to remove a comm- unications package that would automatically give users access to the company’s new on-line information service.Microsoft had estimated that a recall before launch would have cost the company $315m and a delay until October could have cost $900m.”We’re pleased the industry uncertainty has been lifted,” a company spokesman said.However, the three main competitors to Microsoft’s plans to enter the information industry on the Internet expressed confidence the Justice Department would eventually act to “unbundle” Microsoft’s service software from Windows 95.”It would seem that the Justice Department wants to make sure all their ducks are in a row before they file suit,” Pierce Reid, a spokesman for Compuserve, said.. “When I wrote to ILC mentioning the BBC’s interest they telephoned me straight away I then received the full refund Obviously, ILC was very worried about being investigated. “In the end, I contacted Watchdog, the BBC consumer programme, who were interested in investigating ILC,” says Ms Glynn. She sent the work off but never heard back from ILC.On her return to the UK, she rang ILC and left eight messages on the answer phone saying she was unhappy with the course and wanted a refund; she never received a reply.

The advert said ILC in Edinburgh was “British Council accredited”.”I had heard people say how important it was to have a TFL qualification and I thought this was the one, it sounded so official,” says Ms Glynn.She paid pounds 230 up front and waited. A book on TEFL arrived by post, along with a tape that was “almost inaudible and consisted of someone reading extracts from the book”. Course instructions told her to read a chapter of the book and to write her first assignment, which would be assessed and returned. At no point did Kristall claim this was a recognised, bona fide teaching certificate on a par with the RSA or Trinity TESOL.

There was no question of me being misled by any extravagant claims,” says Mr Woolrych.He now has an assistant teacher’s job at a Bournemouth EFL school and in the autumn will study full time for the RSA certificate.’I thought this was the one, it soundedso official’Teresa Glynn 28, from Petts Wood in Kent, taught English at a private language school in Madrid but wanted a qualification. She saw an ILC (International Learning Centres) advertisement for a TEFL distance learning course in a British newspaper. “It was pointed out that this was merely a gentle introduction to teaching. He, along with the seven others on the course, was shown a video that demonstrated what it was like to learn a foreign language from scratch. “Since I had no experience of EFL, I did not want to spend more than pounds 1,000 on a full-time course.”Mr Woolrych, formerly an instructor in the Army, said the 24-hour course provided useful tips for the classroom and ways of motivating students. “This proved to be an excellent introduction to teaching English,” said Mr Woolrych, 59. He signed up with a company called Kristall, which provides educational training throughout the country.

In addition, she says, the profession “must do what it can to maintain standards”.’It was an excellent introduction to teaching’Toby Woolrych enrolled for a pounds 160 intensive practical weekend TEFL course in Bournemouth, his home town. When the industry offers no career progression and terrible wages, you can’t really blame them.Ms Mettacott accepts that some unrecognised courses might provide an adequate introduction to TEFL. The point of the campaign, however, was to “alert students to the dangers of signing up for a cowboy outfit, thereby ending up with a useless qualification”. The rewards to be had are enormous.Given this educational overload, isn’t any qualification for teachers better than none at all? Besides, as any young EFL teacher will tell you, the job is invariably just a passport to earn some money while seeing the world and most people are unlikely to spend their lives doing it. Much of the economy of southern seaside resorts depends on this seasonal influx.