MCAP4 May 2011 17:44
Mission unveils Quindell acquisition
03/05/2011 Miles Nolan
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Mission Capital joined AIM in 2005 following a successful fundraising at 5p a share that raised £3 million. The intention of listing was to acquire property related assets that were cash generative, and provided a medium to high yield.
Six months later Mission acquired Karspace Management, a provider of traffic management services to the public and private sectors. A boardroom spat ensued leading to the departure of founders Neil and daughter Emma Sinclair in 2008. Following the disposal of the Karspace operation the group was effectively rendered a shell with its shares suspended in August 2010 due to its failure in securing a deal.
However, for long suffering shareholders the future may be looking a shade brighter. Mission has agreed to acquire Quindell, a specialist technology to business processing outsourcing firm. Its solutions are focused on customer acquisition, cross-selling and customer retention. In the year to December 2010 it achieved sales of £4.15 million and pre-tax profits of £1.3 million.
Quindell was established by Rob Terry, founder of Innovation Group. The incoming chairman and chief executive says ‘we chose Mission because we were comfortable with the shell and it had valuable tax losses worth £3 million’.
Quindell is ‘growing very rapidly’ and completed two deals in April.
It is on the lookout for more acquisitions in what is a fragmented market. Annualised revenues are now in excess of £10 million, with more than 1,000 business customers on the roster. When at Innovation Terry started with revenues of just £21,000, pushing this to over £100 million in three years.
He admits AIM is a good place to start due to its plans to be corporately active, but he is keen to move Quindell to the full list in time. Including his family interests Terry will control 50 per cent of the share capital.
The shares are currently suspended but are due to relist with a value in excess of £33 million – investors are clearly excited at the growth prospects and ambition of Terry.