Category: Deals

Scottish headquartered IT consultancy Exception acquires mobile app firm Waracle in seven figure deal

One of the country’s leading IT consultancy and services companies, Exception has announced that Dundee based firm Waracle is joining the group in a seven figure deal.

Edinburgh based Exception, which was founded in 2002, specialises in delivering long term IT and programmes for clients in the financial services and government and utilities sectors as well as the police.

Waracle is one of the UK’s top mobile apps development companies and this investment highlights the importance of mobility in transforming today’s business environment for Exception’s customers.

Commenting on the deal, Exception Chairman Martin Burke, says the investment in Waracle is vital for the aspirations of the rapidly growing firm over the coming years.

“Waracle brings a wealth of cutting-edge software engineering knowledge, talent and experience to our business. The world of mobility has changed how we work, live and play and our investment in Waracle will allow us to offer our customers a complete digital and mobile solution.”

Chris Martin, CEO of Waracle sees the partnership with Exception as recognition of the growth of the mobile market, but also a reflection of the company’s growth of its customer base in the mobile market. “Waracle is about mobile software, rapid build and data-driven optimisation for mobile apps.  Mobile devices can collect valuable data efficiently, which can be used to improve people’s health, finances and working lives.”

“We are really proud of the innovative work we do and we enjoy the positive impact it can make.  Exception’s bigger footprint will allow us to expand our services more quickly in growth areas and bring agile thinking to Exception’s existing clients.”

Waracle will continue to trade as it does today and has plans to expand its workforce in Dundee and other bases to work alongside Exception which has more than 250 people working from bases in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and London.

Working with one of our clients involved in software development, we have secured a significant refund of tax under the R&D tax credit legislation.

Further information on our services with regard R&D tax relief can be found by clicking here or please get in touch to arrange an introductory discussion.

Lead advisers to Azure Investments in respect of the acquisition of Elliot Henderson Limited, one of the leading independent timber-harvesting businesses in the UK with a fleet of over 60 machines and capacity to harvest in excess of 600,000 tonnes of timber annually.

The acquisition of this business provides the timber-harvesting operation of Azure with capacity to harvest in excess of 1.2 million tonnes of timber annually and provides operating synergies with its existing business, Dick Brothers Limited.

DC Consulting recently completed the review of a client’s strategic financing needs which culminated in identifying and securing additional funding of £1m.

Orenda Energy Solutions Limited, a turbine manufacturer for the global medium distributed wind industry with locations in Ontario, Canada and Livingston, Scotland, has secured a £2 million deal for ten of its 51kw Skye “tilting tower” wind turbines with privately owned Italian investment fund, PentaEnergon

The Turbines will be located in Scotland and built in phased programme over the next six – twelve months, with Orenda Energy Solutions providing a complete turnkey solution including the developed sites, the wind turbine systems, installation, commissioning and on-going operation and maintenance.

Orenda Energy was advised by DC Consulting, one of Scotland’s leading independent corporate finance firms which specialises in sourcing emerging technology companies for investors.

Angus Hay, Director at DC Consulting commented;  

“We are delighted to have supported Orenda in delivering an innovative venture capital solution to assist with the role out of their pioneering wind turbine products into the UK market.  Given the complexity and changing goal posts facing the renewable energy market with government legislation, it is with great delight that DC Consulting can announce the completion of the deal in such a short timeframe. 

For Orenda Energy Solutions, Steve McMahon, VP Sales & Marketing, added;  

“Like many technology-based markets, the UK small-medium wind sector started with early adopters who wanted to own a wind turbine and potentially profit from this investment. Today, the UK market has evolved and customers are now seen as ‘pragmatic investors’ are looking for complete ‘plug and play’ solutions. However, these investment opportunities must meet very stringent due diligence requirements and financial hurdle rates.

“Orenda Energy recognises this market dynamic and we therefore developed a strategy to become a site developer as well as a wind turbine manufacturer so we are now in a position to serve this very demanding class of customer with a full turnkey and investible proposition and securing this deal fully underlines that we have strong validation in terms of our Skye wind turbine, our company and our far-reaching vision.”

Gerry Lalonde, CEO of Orenda Energy Solutions, claims that the purchase of the turbines is a sound proposition in terms of the Return on Investment and further broadens the scope of Orenda’s growing appeal and attractiveness.

He adds; “By brokering such cohesive partnerships such as this one, we are strengthening our involvement as the small/medium wind turbine manufacturer which consistently delivers the returns investors are looking for.

If you add in complete performance guarantee, plus an all risk insurance package including loss of income, we are simply demonstrating our belief in this as a ‘win-win’ investment.”

Work on the contract starts immediately, with preliminary excavation and developmental work commencing at three pre-consented sites – two in Aberdeenshire and one in the Western Isles – with other locations set to come on stream at the beginning of next year.  

Other sites have been identified by Orenda Energy and are at various stages of the planning process.

About Orenda Energy Solutions:

Orenda Energy Solutions designs and manufactures fully integrated wind turbine systems for the rural segment of the small distributed wind industry. Orenda’s 51kW Skye™ wind turbine is the solution of choice for farmers, large acreage landowners, and wind park developers and investors.

See more at: www.orendaenergy.com

DC Consulting has recently completed the identification of preferred funder and then the subsequent negotiation of bank finance to allow one of its long standing clients to acquire enlarged premises to continues its growth plans from.

As part of this funding, additional working capital was also secured.

Jon Fleming, owner of Mochridhe, created a specialist care service that allows those receiving care to have control, choice and opportunity.

In 2006, after receiving a grant of £5,000 from the Princes Trust, Jon established Mochridhe, with the goal; The people we support will have control, choice and opportunity and will get the support which is of the highest quality, is flexible and dynamic as they need and choose.

With limited start up resources, the company has achieved growth and has secured contracts across both companies, providing in excess of 3,200 care hours per week, secured revenues of around £2million and employing over 100 staff.

DC Consulting oversaw the deal in which secured a £550,000 investment from Kelvin Capital Angel Investment syndicate.

This investment allows Mochridhe Ltd to continue to improve and expand on the quality care the company provides. Investment such as this would help the company’s growth plans set out by DC Consulting and with the future potential of creating further jobs within the company.

DC Consulting were delighted to assist Mochridhe Ltd in closing the deal, in order to help fulfil the companies continuous ambition to expand their care facilities to other that need it.

DC Consulting are delighted to have assisted Glasgow based iMetafilm, previously known as Windense, to secure equity funding from Kelvin Capital and the Scottish Investment Bank. The company uses digital SLR cameras to capture multiple pictures of the same film frame. That is then run through its Omniscan software while the images can also be tagged with relevant descriptions of what is in the shot. The business, which is already working with the American Library of Congress, says the resultant footage it transforms is then fully searchable.

Founders Michael and Linda Howell believe this could help convince companies to digitise old footage ranging from films and news reels to football matches and bands on tour. Mr Howell said: “At present, nobody fully knows what is there and people are even scared to open old film reels in case they get damaged. Our cost-effective technology can bring millions of forgotten or unseen moments into light, searchable by anyone on any device.  Previously we were just thinking in terms of saving archive footage. However, having vast amounts of content without the ability to search it and scrutinise it is almost useless. Now we have a much more in-depth process which in turn makes it usable and more valuable. The potential is limitless, and it could be very personal. For example, in terms of genealogy imagine you could search for footage of war from the place and time where your ancestor served, or find a gig your parents went to decades ago.”

The funding is being used to build more scanning units and begin the labour intensive digitisation process for customers. Longer term iMetafilm hopes to have large scale scanning farms based in Scotland. Jim Hall, co-founder of Kelvin Capital, said: “This has the potential to be an industry game-changer, and is exactly the kind of Scottish-based technology business we love to support. It’s a hot area at the moment, and the size of the opportunity for whomever takes the lead is vast.”

Point Of Care Testing Ltd, (POCT Ltd) is a medical diagnostics distributor of point-of-care instruments and consumables for the medical and research markets in the UK and Ireland. POCT Ltd which also provides services to the National Independent Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, announced today the completion of a share purchase agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Analox Instruments Ltd, (Analox) a United Kingdom based instrument and reagent manufacturing company. The transaction completed on 6^th February 2015.

Ian Cowie, Managing Director and CEO of Point Of Care Testing Ltd, commented, “Throughout a long and successful period of distributing Point of Care products in the United Kingdom and Ireland, we now take over the additional manufacturing and distribution responsibilities of Analox Instruments by completing this acquisition. The range of products supplied by Analox Instruments is complementary to the POCT product portfolio and it now gives the company access to a global market resulting in a strengthened operational structure. We welcome the highly motivated and experienced Analox employees as new members to the POCT Ltd team. We also believe that in a complex market environment, this acquisition allows us to communicate the superior quality and performance of the POCT Ltd and Analox product ranges to the full benefit of our existing and future customers. Our goal is to build and strengthen our presence in the UK and additional geographic markets and to expand the growth potential of POCT Ltd into the future.” Ian Cowie and POCT was advised by DC Consulting throughout the transaction.

About POCT Ltd and Analox

POCT Ltd, founded in 2002, distributes a range of high quality Point of Care portable blood and urine analysis systems for use in any human patient-care setting in order to provide clinicians with rapid blood constituent measurements, throughout the UK and Ireland. These products include the Abaxis Piccolo xpress™, the Abbott i-STAT®, the Hemoccult® Brand from Beckman Coulter, and a range of ACON Laboratories analysers and rapid tests. POCT Ltd also provides routine laboratory testing for the National Independent Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (NIBCSP).

Analox Instruments, founded in 1973 has over 40 years experience and produces high quality analyser systems for the measurement of a wide variety of analytes including rapid enzymatic analysis for glucose, lactate, cholesterol, urea sucrose, lactose, glycerol, ethanol and methanol with applications in Clinical Research, Biotechnology, Sports Science, Food, Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics and Beverages. Products are used in over 65 countries world-wide including North America, Japan, Malaysia, Australasia and most European countries. Two thirds of the Company’s output is exported, mostly through distributors.

 

Cellexus Limited, an ambitious Life sciences business has decided to leave its English base and relocate to Scotland.

Cellexus cited Scotland’s reputation as a life sciences hub as well as strong links with academia and the NHS as it moved operations from Cambridgeshire to Dundee. The innovative business received £250,000 of equity match funding from the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise.

Cellexus has a device which produces proteins from bacteria including yeast, e-coli and algae. While the company’s main market is pharmaceuticals and diagnostics the system could also be used in the food and biofuel industries. The company plans to use the funding from the Scottish Investment Bank to enhance its international sales and marketing programme.

Julia Brown, director of life and chemical sciences, Scottish Enterprise, said: “That Cellexus has chosen to move to Dundee from Cambridgeshire is testament to Scotland’s reputation as the location of choice for life sciences companies.  Cellexus is an innovative, forward-thinking company and we look forward to continuing to work with them to help them successfully up-scale and explore new markets, driving forward their ambitious growth plan.”