'Expect more acquisitions from us in the next 12 months' - Advanced CFO

The UK vendor also focusing efforts on growing its partner base

UK software vendor Advanced is on an M&A frenzy, with its latest purchase being that of Cheshire-based Kirona.

Kirona specialises in workforce management and resource scheduling software, and also provides field-based services teams in the public and private markets, with a particular focus on social housing.

It was purchased to bolster Advanced's enterprise resource planning (ERP) capabilities.

Kirona reported turnover of £11m for its year ending 30 June 2018 according to Companies House, with the social housing sector contributing 80 per cent to that figure.

It was acquired by Advanced from private equity firm Livingbridge for an undisclosed sum, and now brings the vendor's total headcount to 2,300.

Andrew Hicks, Advanced CFO, explained that the Kirona acquisition comes at a time when the company is seeking to accelerate its growth through organic and inorganic growth.

"We've been through a transformation as a business over the last three to four years, building a single business to scale rather than having a disparate set of capabilities," he told CRN.

"Kirona really adds weight into our resource management capabilities and enables us to be able to cross-sell that into our existing customer base. It's a nice fit, we have a couple of shared customers already that are proof points.

"From a social housing perspective, Orchard and Capita are both partners of Advanced and Kirona and by being together we see more opportunities by driving growth through that partner channel that we have."

This is the latest acquisition by Advanced, which closed a deal a fortnight ago on Oyez Professional Services, a firm that specialises in legal forms software.

Hicks alluded to another acquisition that is currently in the works and that he expects to be made public in the next couple of weeks.

"You should expect to see more deals done by us over the next 12 months," he stated.

"Previously Advanced wasn't positioned to capture the best value from M&A because of the way we were structured, the way our teams operated and the way our systems were configured, but we've created that platform now.

"We feel really well-placed to grow the business organically and inorganically.

"We always have a cross-sell thesis as a part of the case when we look to acquire a company and we will continue to do that with future acquisitions."

The Berkshire-based vendor has also re-invigorated its channel programme, after a previous acquisition highlighted the benefits that come with working with partners, according to CMO Sally Scott.

She said that the vendor is seeking to add 20 more partners to its channel in this financial year.

"We've had a concerted effort to relaunch and build out our channel partner programme ourselves," he said.

"The primary reason for this concentration came from a previous acquisition. It was understanding that those small and medium businesses still rely on their IT partners to help them with technical decisions and we wanted to embrace that.

"We see great value in the channels in the UK for software products, particularly serving the SME market and specific verticals.

"[For example], 40 per cent of Kirona's revenue came through the channel, and acquiring that knowledge and infrastructure is key to us."