It has been a mixed first half for Access Intelligence, the buy-and-build portfolio of Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) SaaS offerings headed by Michael Jackson. The Group’s financial performance was muted as it worked to turnaround Cobent, the underperforming training business it acquired in March 2010. Overall, turnover was down slightly to £4.0m (H1 2010: £4.1m) and PBT dropped to just £21k (H1 2010: £470k).
There are an assortment of SaaS products under the Access Intelligence banner including e-procurement, media and communications and incident management software. The acquisition of compliance training firm Cobent was meant to broaden its portfolio and provide cross-selling opportunities but it has yet to pay dividends. Having cut costs, newly appointed Cobent CEO, Heath Williams, must now set to work rebuilding the sales pipeline – Cobent is not expected to breakeven until Q1 2012. Apart from Cobent, the Group companies have apparently performed well. Recurring revenues are up to £2.6m (H1 2010: £2.4m) and despite though economic conditions management reports strong demand for its software thanks to its cost saving capabilities.
The sale of the legal search tool business, Solcara, for over three times revenues (£2.5m) to Thompson Reuters earlier this month, cheered management and boosted cash reserves. With some £4.7m in the bank we doubt it will be long before Access Intelligence acquires in the GRC space again despite the high prices currently expected by software vendors.