16th Oct 2018 10:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - Smartspace Software PLC on Tuesday said it acquired New Zealand-based Swiped On Ltd for GBP5.4 million, as the London-listed company swung to profit in the first half of its current financial year.
Smartspace Software was formerly known as RedstoneConnect, but changed its name at the end of July following a disposal of its Systems Integration and Managed Services divisions.
The IT service management company said Swiped On offers a visitor management solution to customers in 39 countries around the globe on a monthly subscription. The company reported annual recurring revenue of GBP800,000.
The total consideration payable for Swiped On is NZD11 million, equating to GBP5.4 million. Of the sterling amount, GBP4.2 million is payable in cash, funded from the company's existing resources. The remaining GBP1.2 million will be satisfied by the issue of 1.4 million Smartspace shares to four existing shareholders of Swiped On.
Smartspace shares were trading 0.4% higher on Tuesday at 88.82 pence each.
"We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Swiped On," said Chief Executive Frank Beechinor. "This will help us to broaden our revenue base and will enable us to be less dependent purely on enterprise-level deals."
Separately, Smartspace said it swung to a pretax profit of GBP609,000 in the six months to the end of July from GBP674,000 loss reported for the same period a year ago, as it secured GBP3.3 million after sale of subsidiaries. Meanwhile, revenue slipped to GBP1.9 million from GBP2.1 million.
The Software business delivered revenue of GBP1.5 million, down from GBP1.8 million last year due to lower margins. Revenue from Systems Integration division rose slightly to GBP400,000 from GBP300,000 year-on-year.
During the period, Smartspace said it made an investment of GBP700,000 to enhance the functionality on its main space management platform.
"We are confident, that with our strong cash position, we will be able to accelerate the growth of the Company through our 'buy and build' acquisition strategy, as illustrated by the recent Swiped On acquisition, with a focus on successfully identifying the right targets which complement our 'smart' software proposition," added Beechinor.
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