RSL Group displays its worth as it is snapped up in £1.3m deal
TRANSPORT information systems group RSL has been acquired by 21st Century Technology for £1.3m.
The Coventry firm – made up of Region Consultants Ltd, Region Service Ltd and RSL Cityspace Ltd – is one of the UK’s market leaders in developing and supplying public information systems for bus travel, such as interactive terminals, real-time display screens and kiosk-based ticketing machines.
21st Century Technology – based in Croydon – is a specialist provider of CCTV and monitoring systems to fleet and network operators in the bus and rail industries. It is a plc.
It has bought RSL for £1.1m in cash and a three year loan note of £0.2m bearing interest at 6%.
The loan note is repayable in whole or in part, in each case subject to notice, at the holders’ election on each anniversary date of issue or at the company’s election at any time six months after issue.
Founded more than 20 years ago, RSL Group’s customers include passenger transport executives (PTEs) and local authorities and its technologies are installed in many towns and cities around the UK.
It has its own development team and its Electronic Passenger Information (EPI) software is now in its 4th generation.
RSL Group comprises three separate companies under common control which in the year ended 30 June 2014 recorded unaudited consolidated sales of £4m, operating profit of £0.4m and had net assets of £0.4m.
The acquisition is part of 21st Century’s strategy to diversify earnings, add software capability and move beyond providing individual solutions for the supply and installation of CCTV, telematics and monitoring systems, towards highly integrated on-board technologies with connected and web based back-office software management applications.
It sees RSL Group’s combination of hardware, software, installation and management of closely related products and services is highly complementary to its offering.
Russ Singleton, CEO of 21st Century Technology said: “RSL Group specialises in real-time passenger travel information and ticketing systems within local authorities and PTEs, where most of the large operators are active in providing public transport. It is with these operators that 21C works closely, as an ‘on-vehicle’ bus and rail systems integrator.
“This acquisition combines some important capabilities to develop new, class-leading products and services to help us grow our business and deliver enhanced value for money solutions to customers through our economies of scale.
“We have already identified some valuable potential synergies between the two businesses having invited RSL Group to incorporate their display technology into our 3 carriage ‘Smart-Train’ systems integration test-bed. It was here that we also discovered that their ‘get it right first’ time ethos and business culture fits very well into our own.”
