Induction Healthcare Group acquires Horizon Strategic Partners

(Sharecast News) - Healthcare technology company Induction Healthcare Group has acquired Horizon Strategic Partners, it announced on Wednesday.
The AIM-traded firm said Horizon owns MicroGuide, which it described as a revenue-generating app providing medical organisations with the functionality to create, edit, and publish their own local medical guidelines in a "secure and locally-administered" environment.

It said the guidelines could be accessed by clinicians, at the point of care, either on a mobile device or an intranet.

Induction said that since its launch in 2013, MicroGuide had grown to be the "go-to source" for guidance on antimicrobial use, and the "most used guidelines app" in the NHS.

It said that at present, it was paid for and used in approximately half of all NHS Trusts and three quarters of Acute Trusts.

For the year ended 31 December, Horizon reported revenue of £0.22m and a net loss before tax of £0.56m, with a net liability position of £0.55m as at 31 December.

Since then, the business had entirely focussed on its MicroGuide app and scaled back other operations, and as a result it had moved to a break even position in the quarter ended 30 September.

Under the terms of the acquisition, the group would purchase Horizon for a total consideration of up to £2.5m, comprising an initial payment of £1m and deferred contingent consideration of up to £1.5m, which could be settled for cash and Induction shares determined by performance deliverables before 30 September next year.

"MicroGuide brings to the Group a further substantial NHS user base," said Induction chief executive officer Ibs Mahmood.

"For healthcare professionals in many NHS Trusts, the Induction Switch app and MicroGuide already rank respectively as either the number one or number two most used healthcare apps.

"At Induction we are fanatical about helping healthcare professionals deliver care."

Mahmood said combining the two apps would not only improve existing functionality, but also provide an "even stronger platform" for rolling out new functionality to "ease the daily grind" for healthcare professionals.

Mike Northall, CEO of Horizon, added that both companies shared a vision of providing mobile solutions to the healthcare community.

"The combined platform will broaden access to medical information giving clinicians the latest information where and when they need it, empowering them to deliver more effective and improved patient outcomes," Northall explained.

"The transaction is also good news for our clients as being part of a larger group will enable us to expand our MicroGuide services portfolio and provide the other products and services being developed by Induction."