Rm Regulatory News (RM.)

15 May 2009 07:00



15 May 2009

RM acquires specialist education solutions business Isis Concepts

RM announces the acquisition of specialist education solutions business Isis Concepts for a total net cash cost of up to £2.69m. Isis Concepts designs and installs innovative learning spaces for individual education establishments and for BSF (Building Schools for the Future) projects.

Isis Concepts is a well-established supplier of specialist education interiors. It creates flexible learning spaces, built around its own innovative, purpose-designed furniture. Isis Concepts brings with it significant intellectual property, both in unique furniture designs and through in-depth knowledge of creating inspiring learning spaces. RM already sells a range of Isis Concepts' innovative education furniture and the two companies have worked jointly on a number of projects.

RM will acquire Pars Commercial Holdings Ltd, the holding company which owns Isis Concepts. Pars Commercial Holdings' revenues in the year to December 2008 were £3.6m, with profit before interest and tax of £380k. RM will pay an initial consideration of £1.14m in cash on completion, a deferred consideration of £0.97m after one year, and up to £0.58m over the following two years subject to the achievement of ambitious growth targets.

Following the acquisition, Isis Concepts will be managed as part of the Group's RM Education Resources division. The current management team will remain with the business, and founder and Managing Director, Nick Topliss has agreed to remain with RM for a minimum of three years to continue to drive the growth of the business.

Terry Sweeney, Chief Executive of RM, said:

"We've been working with Isis Concepts for the last year, they're an innovative and growing company, with good relationships with BSF architects and constructors. As part of the Group, Isis will both broaden our RM Education Resources product range and help us expand what we offer to BSF projects.

"Isis is great business, with excellent products and ideas that really help schools build inspiring educational spaces. They'll make a real contribution to our vision of helping teachers to teach and learners to learn."

Nick Topliss, Founder of Isis Concepts, said:

"I'm delighted that Isis Concepts is becoming part of the RM Group. RM shares our commitment to delivering the very best educational solutions and can provide us with the opportunity to take our ideas to more schools. 

"We collaborated with RM on the ground-breaking Future Learning Spaces display at the BETT show in January 2009 and, between us, we demonstrated that bringing together technology and furniture, with a clear educational vision, makes for an inspiring learning environment. Since then, we've jointly worked with a number of customers making that concept a reality." 

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Notes:

The RM Group is a leading provider of educational solutions that help teachers to teach and learners to learn. RM works closely with educationalists to create new products, processes and technology which improve education. RM is listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol RM.L, ISIN GB0002870417. Further details are available at ww.rm.com/investors and through the Group's investor blog at rminvestors.wordpress.com

Isis Concepts employs 32 people and is based in Tetsworth, Oxfordshire. It was founded in 1999 by current owner and Managing Director, Nick Topliss, as a specialist education furniture supplier. Isis Concepts focuses on the original design of innovative furniture solutions specifically designed for the education market, with manufacturing outsourced to a range of partners. All of Isis Concepts' educational furniture complies with BS EN 1729, the European standard for educational furniture.

The Future Learning Spaces display at BETT 2009 brought together leading-edge technology and innovative design to demonstrate how schools could look and work in the 21st Century. RM has recently launched the REAL (Rethinking Education and Learning) centre at its Abingdon headquarters. The REAL Centre is a permanent space, showing the very latest thinking about school environments, and including a range of Isis Concepts products.

The BESA Resources Survey 2009 (an independent survey of English schools published by the British Education Suppliers Association) estimates that schools spent £99m from local budgets on furniture in GY2007/08. Furniture, fixtures and equipment (FFE) spend associated with centrally-funded school build programmes such as BSF is additional to this. Guidance provided by Partnerships for Schools (the agency responsible for the delivery of the BSF programme) states that local authorities should allocate £1,000 per pupil for furniture, fixtures and equipment in new-build BSF schools (equivalent to £1m for a typical 1,000 pupil school).