Charteris was formed in 1996 and was an AIM IPO in Nov 2000. At one time run by ex-Logica CEO, David Mann and Chris Preddy, this IT consultancy seemed to be doing OK. In 2008 they reported revenues of £23.4m and PBT of £1.4m. Since then it’s been a long and painful down hill slide. Then Stephen Vaughan, who many will know from his Synstar and Communisis days, was appointed Chairman and Mann as Non exec Deputy Ch. Allan Barr was appointed CEO in 2011.
But by 2012 that revenue had slumped to £9.5m and a £418K loss reported; albeit less than the £3.5m loss reported in 2011.
In 2001 their share price had hit 172p. Last week they could be bought for 2.75p. Now Sword Group has come along with an all cash bid at 4.5p valuing Charteris at c£2.26m. Sword is a French IT consultancy quoted on the Paris Stock Exchange with c1000 staff in 15 countries. They delivered profit of €6.5m on revenue of €118m in their last FY.
It’s not Sword's first UK acquisition. In July they acquired Active Risk for £11.7m.
Oh dear…