A chance to shop at the information supermarket

A business information service has been launched on the Internet last week by on-line data provider Maid.

Claimed to be "invaluable" to commercial law firms, the Profound service offers detailed and up-to-date on-line information on all aspects of international business.

It gives users access to more than 4,000 international trade and press titles, information on four and a half million companies and analyst reports from over 50 brokerage houses.

Jo Wilson, marketing manager at Maid, said: "Profound is a comprehensive business tool, an information supermarket.

"Lawyers can use the service to get a global perspective on their market and their clients' market and to track competitors. It allows them to get the latest information on things affecting their clients, sometimes even before the client is aware of it."

Kevin Gold, head of company/commercial at Mishcon de Reya, was converted to the service after it helped the firm win around £250,000 worth of business.

He said: "Profound has proven itself to be such a valuable business tool that we are rolling it out to every business manager's desk. We cannot afford not to."

A subscription to Profound costs £6,000 a year per organisation. The system works on Apple Macintoshes, Unix workstations, PCs running OS/2 and any PC with an Internet browser.