Software firm buys into fashion retail for £8m

SALFORD-based K3, which provides software, hosting and managed services to the retail, manufacturing and distribution sectors, is to buy Retail Support International ApS, known as DdD Retail, for up to £7.9m.

It will make an initial cash payment of £7m, with a  deferred cash consideration of up to £900,000 based upon agreed post acquisition performance targets.

 DdD, which last year had a turnover of £4.9m,  provides proprietary combined point of sale software/hardware, focusing on the fashion retail industry.

Established in 1989 and headquartered in Denmark, DdD operates in Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Norway and has around 750 customers across 1,800 stores, including sportswear chain Esprit and Saint Tropez, the women’s fashion brand.

DdD’s software suite is designed as easy-to-install, ‘plug and play’ which is delivered via the cloud and licensed on a monthly basis.

K3  has also announced a placing to raise £13.5m to fund the DdD acquisition, as well as for additional product opportunities and working capital.

Lars-Olof Norell, chairman of K3, said:  “We are very pleased to announce the acquisition of DdD which marks an important step in our strategy to increase sales of products with a significant element of K3-owned IP.

“DdD is a well-established business which has developed a highly attractive, cloud-based software solution for retailers, particularly in the fashion sector. This acquisition represents a highly complementary fit, bringing IP and an extensive customer base delivering significant recurring revenues.  We also see exciting cross-selling opportunities.”

 He added that K3 will continue to look for complementary bolt-on acquisitions.