Private equity buyer swoops for technology group
Technology group PCMS, which provides software to major retailers, has been bought by private equity group Inflexion for an undisclosed sum.
PCMS provides point-of-sale (POS) software for major retailers including John Lewis, Arcadia Group and Walgreens, and has delivered consistently strong profits.
The deal sees Inflexion back the management team of the Coventry-based company, which has been led by chief executive Tony Houldsworth for the past year.
Inflexion’s managing partner Simon Turner said: “PCMS prides itself on progressive digital innovation. The business joins our suite of TMT portfolio companies with global operations such as Mobica and Group IMD.
“Inflexion has created brilliant momentum this year; just last week we acquired ATCORE Technology Group and we have invested in 10 businesses this year alone.”
PCMS is a £32m-turnover group which employs more than 450 people across operations in the UK, United States and Singapore. It has delivered pre-tax profits of between £4m-£4.6m in each of the last four years.
The deal will support the company’s plans for expansion in South America and Asia.
Houldsworth said: “We are proud of the business PCMS is today. Its stellar profit growth reflects a global retailers’ demand for innovative POS software and customer service excellence.”
He highlighted Inflexion’s “advanced in-house digital expertise and global reach” as key reasons for choosing to work with them.
Richard Swann and Ed Fraser from Inflexion will join PCMS’s board. Inflexion was advised by PwC.
PCMS shareholders were advised by Catalyst Corporate Finance.
It is the 24th transaction Catalyst has advised on this year and the seventh in the TMT sector. Catalyst has worked closely with PCMS for the last two years, preparing the business for a transaction and negotiating terms of a deal with the buyers.
Richard Sanders, partner at Catalyst Corporate Finance who led the deal with Paul Vanstone, said: “PCMS is a business at the forefront of digital retail innovation which has shown remarkable growth over the last few years. With a strong management team in place and private equity backing, PCMS is well positioned to continue on its expansion drive.”
Graham Watson, director, Transaction Services, PwC, said: “We are proud to have worked with Inflexion and PCMS on this transaction. This is a fantastic business that is delivering strong profit growth through provision of leading edge unified commerce solutions to some of the world’s largest retailers. With support from Inflexion, PCMS is well placed for this to continue.”
