You can read the reasons why in our recent post Parseq warns on weak BPO business, but basically the reverse takeover of Intelligent Environments by privately held financial services BPO firm, Documetric (see Intelligent Environments – end of an era) to create Parseq, proves yet again that in M&A land, the whole can often end up substantially less than the sum of its parts.
You have to untangle the numbers to see the underlying trends, but overall, Parseq generated an operating loss of £256k on revenues of £12.1m in the 6 months to 30th June, leading to a net loss of £242k. If I read the numbers right, the core Documetric business saw revenues decline by 17% organically (i.e. excluding the Avance acquisition, also in H2 2010). The ‘old’ I.E. business (now Parseq’s software division) is apparently storming ahead.
Management is making positive noises about the prospects for the Services division, but frankly all eyes are on the (indicative) 7.5p a share MBO bid by CEO Rami Cassis (see Parseq confirms MBO approach). Cassis seems to hold almost 36% of Parseq’s stock, and it looks like his main selling jobbie is to 6 other major shareholders who between them hold just over 30% of the rest. I think we can all take an ‘intelligent’ guess at what Cassis’ first move will be if successful.