The board of directors of the company has decided to demerge the company into two separate entities - Nods Worldwide Ltd (the software segment) and Worldwide Infocom Ltd (the hardware segment). The shareholders of Nods Worldwide will be allotted 40 equity shares of Worldwide Infocom for every 41 shares held in the company, i.e. Nods Worldwide. Nods Worldwide will focus on software development and consultancy in e-commerce, on-line analytical processing, data warehousing and intranet. Worldwide Infocom will also benefit from the merger of Compuage Electronics Ltd with itself.

According to an analyst with a leading brokerage house, ``The move to demerge will help the company in improving its profit margins as the hardware business was proving to be a drag on the high growth software business.'' Worldwide Technologies was incorporated in 1979 and went public in 1995. Worldwide Technologies currently sells modems under the Swiftlink brand. But due to low margin and high competition, the company proposed to move from hardware to being a software company. The company entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Network Oriented Date Systems (NODS), Geneva for software development. NODS were issued 75,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each for consideration other than cash at Rs 23.60 per share towards hardware equipment and software products brought in by them. Under the MoU, NODS will provide the software technology, supervise and manage the operations in India and will be responsible for marketing the products worldwide. NODS were also issued 3.85 lakh warrants each of which willentitle the holder to apply for one equity share of Rs 10 each on payment of an exercise price of Rs 23.60.

Under the MoU, NODS stake in Worldwide Technologies will eventually rise to 60 per cent of the enhanced share capital. NODS is a Microsoft-certified solution developer and an Oracle Business Alliance partner. It specialises in IT consulting and software development in the field of client server, data warehousing and e-commerce. The company has handled turnkey projects for companies like Nestle, Philip Morris, Capital International and CS First Boston, Worldwide Technologies officials said. NODS is a relatively new entrant in information technology, having been set up in 1996. It turned in modest revenues of US $ 2 million with profits of US $ 0.6 million in the last accounting year.

Worldwide Technologies declared a sales of Rs 3.25 crore for the year ended June 1998 and a net profit of Rs 15 lakh. For fiscal 1999, the company reported a net loss. However, the company is expected to be back in black in the current fiscal. For the quarter ended March 31, 1999, Worldwide Technologies reported a net profit of Rs 10.17 lakh on a turnover of Rs 84 lakh. The company's current equity stands at Rs 3.46 crore.