Business consultancy firm Ameo has been acquired by AIM-listed technology group The Panoply in a deal worth £7 million in cash and shares.
Ameo is a mid-sized business change consultancy that employs a team of around 30 consultants and staff from offices in Colmore Gate in Birmingham and Studley in Warwickshire. It was founded in 2010 and has worked with over 100 clients across many sectors.
In Ameo’s most recent accounts, from the year ending October 31 2019, it registered current assets of £2.8 million, up from just over £2 million the year prior. Less current liabilities, it held total assets of a little over £1.7 million.
Ameo is debt free and, through the deal, its shareholders have received £2.2 million in cash and around 5.9 million newly issued shares in Panoply, increasing its total issued share capital to 55.1 million. Panoply will pay a further £1.3 million on completion of the acquisition.
Ben Ward, Director at Ameo, said: “This deal will take us to the next stage in our evolution by expanding our existing service capabilities and expertise to bring new leading-edge solutions to our clients’ challenges, particularly across service redesign, robotic process automation and applied artificial intelligence.”
The acquisition allows Panoply to grow its advisory offering whilst also adding a CxO/senior management client base and boosting its public sector practice, with over 90 per cent of Ameo’s revenue in its latest financial year coming from public sector work.
Panoply CEO Neal Gandhi said: “Ultimately, this acquisition increases our relevance and puts us in a stronger position to target and win larger, more strategic engagements at the heart of the UK public sector.”
“Our focus is to deliver positive, sustainable change in the public sector and Ameo's track record of work in central and local government, healthcare and higher education broadens our capability to achieve this goal for our clients.”
Sourced from Business Sale Report