A CD-Rom the size and shape of a credit card is set to turn a small Bradford firm into a multi-million pound business.

HDC Associates has won the exclusive UK rights to market the Magi Card and has already attracted interest from big name firms such as Virgin Atlantic and two major banks.

The firm, which employs 12 people in Mitre Court on Cutler Heights Lane, plans to sell two million of the cards in its first year of marketing the product which is made by OMD of Switzerland.

The company is joining forces with a number of software producers - including Advance Multi Media off the Chain Bar motorway intersection near Cleckheaton - to set up the information that firms need on the card.

The company, which started in July, 1997, already has potential orders for 200,000 of the cards from Blue Chip companies - but was reluctant to give names until they had signed up for them.

In its first year of trading the firm made a £380,000 turnover and last year that was doubled to £750,000 even before the card has started being promoted.

The Magi Card holds 22 megabytes of information - 22 million items - and can help firms in a number of ways:

A business card which acts as a showcase for firms using it with the ability to store brochure information, new products and pricing information.

An event card capable of showing video footage and storing registration and sponsor details for conferences, product launches and shows.

A loyalty card which carry information about products, launches, competition and on-line shopping.

A banking card.

A direct mail card giving company information.

A promotional card, using videos, sound and 3D animation.

Peter Kitson, the firm's operations manager, said: "There is a huge market for this card and it has tremendous potential. We could become a multi-million pound turnover company.

"We are aiming to sell two million of these in its first year of marketing as we have had a lot of interest in the card before we have marketed it properly."

HDC was started two years ago by Hazel, Dean and Cheryl Underwood as a specialist floppy disc and CD-Rom replication firm. The company has just helped produce a new CD for the Bradford Bulls called Ain't No Stopping Us Now with singer Anita Madigan and featuring Bulls stars Henry and Robbie Paul. Their customer base includes Siemens Communi-cations, British Airways, The Royal Bank of Scotland and the DTI.

Mr Kitson added: "We have plant at the firm which has the capacity to duplicate and label more than a million floppy discs a month."

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