Healthcare communications company bought for £15m

Macclesfield company Healthcare Communications UK has been bought by a London-based cloud-based software provider in a £15m deal.

IMImobile has bought the Cheshire firm, which is a provider of appointment management and patient experience communications to the UK healthcare market.

Healthcare Communications works with 140 NHS organisations and delivers more than 100 million secure patient communications a year, including outpatient appointment reminders and follow-up letters.

It provides communications services to patients via SMS, IVM, telephone and email through its internally developed ‘Envoy’ software platform as well as providing postal and portal communication channels.

Its innovative services are proven to save the NHS time and money to improve the patient experience, says IMImobile.

In the year ending April 30, 2017, revenue and adjusted EBITDA were £3.6m and £0.4m, respectively, with strong growth maintained in the first six months of trading for the current year.
IMImobile says the acquisition is “highly complementary to both its product set and customer base” and is expected to be immediately earnings enhancing for the group. It is partly funded by a new £12m debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank.

IMImobile chief executive Jay Patel said: “The acquisition of Healthcare Communications significantly enhances our position in the public services sector with a leading digital communications provider in the UK healthcare market, a sector which has seen a renewed focus on operational efficiency and patient experience.

“We see significant potential to support the NHS in delivering material cost efficiency and improved patient experience. Our solutions can automate and streamline many existing processes and patient journeys and we look forward to demonstrating our capabilities to the Healthcare Communications customer base.”

Grant Thornton advised Healthcare Communications on the deal.