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On the Acquisition Trail
Thu 11th Jun 09 - 15:00
Scott Fletcher, the Chief Executive of ANS Group, has said that his company has agreed debt funding which will allow it to buy struggling rivals.
Speaking at an Institute of Directors' event on Wednesday 10th June, Fletcher said that although his PLUS-listed firm had never carried any debt in the past, he was willing to borrow money in order to pick up distressed assets.
"We think it's a good time to look for a key acquisition that might double us in size for half of our p/e," he said. He added that although the ability to fund such deals via the stockmarket had "disappeared", the business was willing to take advantage of the fact that interest rates are likely to remain low for the foreseeable future.
"We are now in quite a nice place where banks are offering us debt and we're making profits of ten per cent," he said. However, he added that he was aware the firm needed to pick its targets carefully, saying there were "too many companies on the market" and that there was a danger of moving too early.
Fletchers said that the company has continued to perform well - its last set of interim results showed an 8 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to £538,485 on sales up 24 per cent to £5.1m - because it had "followed the money" into areas where IT spending was still strong such as healthcare and green IT. Around half of its revenue comes from NHS trusts - it is currently involved in pilot schemes at hospitals including Central Lancashire where equipment has been fitted with RFID Tags, which means they can be easily found via mobiles with wi-fi connections.
Referenced from Crains Manchester Business: www.crainsmanchesterbusiness.co.uk