Dear Reader,
You are receiving this mail every week as we see you as a key partner and we look forward to continuing to enjoy our journey with you over the decades ahead.
Please find below this week’s newsletter covering the latest M&A, company performance, fundraisings and executive moves.
Deal Details: London-listed Dods Group has acquired Merit Group for €25m.
Merit Group, founded in India by Leitrim man Con Conlon 15 years ago, provides industry research, big data and technology services to clients in multiple industries. Headquartered in Chennai, India with facilities in London and Sri Lanka, it employs c. 1000 people. Last year the group reported revenues of over €10m (£9.2m).
Dods Group is an AIM-listed company with headquarters in London. The company provides monitoring, research and training services, as well as holding events and publishing titles. It reported revenues of €23m (£20.6m) last year.
Advisers: None Mentioned
Renatus Comment:
The Leitrim observor dug into this story and had a great report including the following paragraph:
With a couple of years experience under his belt, Con set up the Merit Group. He gathered investors from Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan, and Meath as well as in the UK. Investors “took a punt” he said and trusted between €20,000 – 75,000 each in the business. Con said he was lucky to have such supporting investors, “we needed their help a few times and they were always so positive.”
“They are reaping the benefits today, most received 15 times the money they put in” but Con acknowledged it was high risk at the time, and “they have received a generous return and I am personally and professionally delighted for them.”
Source: Irish Times and Leitrim Observor
Deal Details: Kevin Lagan bought majority stake in Frame-Tech for an undisclosed sum through Lagan Investments, which he established after selling his building materials company for €510m in 2018.
Frame-Tech, which manufactures more than 1,000 residential units per year, had earnings of €3.3m for the year ended June 30th and turnover of about €14.5m. The deal is expected to create synergies with Lagan’s FastHouse operation, which specialises in the rapid construction of homes.
Advisers: None Mentioned
Renatus Comment:
We recently reported on BAM’s investment in Modern Homes Ireland. With labour proving difficult on site and speed being of essence expect to see more growth in off-site building of houses.
Source: Irish Times
Deal Details: AxFlow Holding AB has acquired Irish Induchem Group. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
AxFlow Holding AB supplies fluid handling products, as well as provides services to chemical and petrochemical, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and water and waste water industries in Europe
Induchem Group, headquartered in Cork, is a specialist provider of fluid handling solutions, which predominately focuses on valves, pipe solutions, mixers, and pneumatics.
Advisers: Deloitte’s regional Financial Advisory team including Partner Ronan Murray and Associate Director Derek Murphy, provided sell side support to the shareholders of Induchem.
Source: AxFlow
Deal Details: AxFlow Ireland has announced its acquisition of Irish Pumps & Valves Limited for an undisclosed sum.
AxFlow group is the largest distributor of positive displacement pumps and related products and services in Europe.
Established in 1998 Irish Pumps & Valves is a Carlow-based major supplier of valves, actuators, pumps and ancillary equipment to the wastewater, power generation and process industries.
Advisers: None Mentioned
Source: AxFlow
Deal Details: Irish exploration company United Oil & Gas (UOG) has acquired Egypt-based Rockhopper Energy in a reverse takeover in a €14.3m deal.
UOG is an independent oil & gas start-up established in 2015 by former Tullow Oil team.
Rockhopper Energy has been operational in Egypt since 2016 and the company has a 22% interest in the Abu Sennan concession.
UOG will fund the deal partly through proceeds from the recently announced $5m sale of one of its North Sea licences; a share placing; and an $8m loan from BP.
Additionally, UOG has struck a deal whereby BP will have first call on any oil and gas produced from UOG’s other licences in the UK, Jamaica and Italy.
Advisers: None Mentioned
Renatus Comment:
Brent Crude started the year just above $50, peaked at just below $75 and is now trading at $63. For three and a half years from ’11 to ’14 it lived over $100. A bit like the good developers these guys probably make the investment work on today’s rate and enjoy any windfall that a higher oil price might bring.
Source: United Oil & Gas; Irish Examiner
Deal Details: Rettig ICC, a home-heating business that is part of the Finnish Rettig Group, has agreed to buy the decorative tubular steel business of Quinn Radiators. Quinn Radiators appointed Grant Thornton as administrator after the business went into administration last month.
Source: The Sunday Times
Deal Details: Irish property firm Aldgate Developments has sealed a 15-year lease, understood to be close to £300m (€333m), to let a new headquarters in London to telecoms giant BT.
The former UK telecoms monopoly agreed a deal to move 4,000 staff to a new 320,000 sq ft, 18-storey building near Aldgate East station on the edge of the City of London financial district.
The building is currently under construction by Aldgate Developments – a property business controlled by Irish developers Conor Molloy, Niall Molloy and Oisin Quinn.
Source: Irish Independent
Deal Details: The market for initial public offerings has shown signs of strengthening after Fineos, the Irish insurance software company, priced at the top of its range yesterday with share prices between €1.24 and €1.55, setting it on track to list as a business worth about €435m. The business will list on August 20 after its bookbuild yesterday.
Source: The Australian
We in Renatus believe that more important than the deals are the people and we have teamed up with leaders in this field Korn Ferry to provide you details of key recent executive and board level appointments
Pinsent Masons appoints Michael Finn as partner in Dublin
Pinsent Masons has announced the appointment of life sciences and technology litigation specialist Michael Finn as a partner in Dublin. Mr Finn will join the firm from Matheson, where he currently leads its IP disputes group and previously established its life sciences regulatory and litigation practice. He will work alongside IP and data litigation specialist Ann Henry in Dublin.
Mason Hayes & Curran appoints John Farrell as technology partner
Mason Hayes & Curran has announced the appointment of John Farrell as a partner in the firm’s technology team. Mr Farrell specialises in large scale technology projects, as well as providing strategic advice on privacy, e-commerce, Blockchain, AI and connected devices. Mr Farrell was previously a senior associate with Mason Hayes & Curran. He is also a lecturer for the Law Society of Ireland in the area of technology, privacy and commercial contracts.
Euroclear UK and Ireland appoints interim CEO
Euroclear has named the chief compliance officer of its joint venture with DTCC, Christopher Elms, as interim CEO. Mr Elms, who had spent three years as chief risk and compliance officer for the DTCC-Euroclear Global Collateral project, will assume the role as the search for a permanent appointee is finalised. Mr Elms has spent over 20 years with the central securities depository in a range of roles including ground head of service control, head of IT production services UK and head of internal audit.
Garry Moroney appointed new CEO of Roomex
Roomex has announced the appointment of Garry Moroney as the new Chief Executive Officer. Previously, Mr Moroney was the founder and CEO of two successful companies in Clavis Insight and Similarity Systems.
Pinergy appoints Esme Murphy as Energy Advisor to Retail and Leisure Sectors
Pinergy, the award winning smart energy provider, has announced the appointment of Esme Murphy as the company’s Energy Advisor to the retail and leisure sectors. Miss Murphy joined Pinergy in 2018 as the company’s Corporate Sales Manager for South Dublin, Wicklow and the South East Region. Esme has over 18 years’ experience within the area of Sales and Account Management and has industry expertise in new business development and retention and engagement of new clients.
TJ Sullivan will succeed Peter Fleming as chairman of Carbery Group
TJ Sullivan, chairman of Drinagh Co-op joined the Drinagh board in 2014, becoming vice-chairman in 2016, at which time he also joined the Carbery board. He has chaired Drinagh since 2017. He is a dairy farmer from Urhan on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork.
EBITDA is an accounting term and is often the best indicator of profitability in non-capital-intensive businesses before financing and tax are considered. In capital-intensive businesses EBIT or EBITDA less average Capital Expenditure are often better measures. YoY is an acronym for the year-on-year movement in turnover, EBITDA, etc.
Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort, based in Antrim, is one of Ireland’s premier luxury hotels, boasting 122 bedrooms. For FY18, the hotel saw revenue increase by 8.3% to c. £22.5m while EBITDA increased by 4.1% to c. £5.5m. Hotels are a labour intensive business model, evidenced here by Galgorm’s 493 employees which cost £9.2m, an increase of £840k versus FY17. This was likely part of the reason that gross margins decreased to 38.4% from 40.6% in FY17. EBITDA was not converted to cash however as cash reserves decreased by c. £484k to stand at c. £427k after significant investments in fixed assets. There was an outstanding debt balance of c. £10.1m at the end of FY18 and net assets stood at c. £10.7m.
Lifestyle Sports is one of Ireland’s most recognisable sports retailers. These accounts represent Lifestyle’s Republic of Ireland operations where the majority of their trading takes place. Despite revenue increasing by 4.3% to c. €107.6m, EBITDA decreased by 9.4% to c. €9.3m. Gross margins were flat at 46.2%, however, there was a c. €3.2m increase in selling & distribution costs that drove the disparity between revenue and EBITDA. Cash also decreased over the year as there was an cash balance at year-end of c. €6.2m, down from c. €11.8m in FY17. Net assets at the end of the year were c. €30.8m for the business which is owned by Stafford family members including Kathleen, Victor, Barry, Mark, among others.
D&M Pharmacies Limited trades as Adrian Dunne Pharmacy which operates 12 stores in the Leinster region. In its most recent financial year, the group saw revenue remain essentially flat at c. €19.9m while EBITDA decreased by 14.1% to c. €2.8m. The directors noted that they believe turnover will remain stable for the forseeable future and they will be focused on controlling costs. EBITDA converted to a net cash decrease of c. €305k after a loan repayment of c. €1.8m along with working capital movements proved to be significant drains on cash. Adrian Dunne Pharmacy is wholly owned by Adrian Dunne and had net assets of c.€17.4m at the end of FY18
Who: Oncomark, a Dublin-based medtech startup, founded in 2007 by William Gallagher and Steve Penney, has received fresh funding.
What: €4.2m has been backed by FSIL Finance and a number of individuals and angel investor networks, including Irrus Investments and the Halo Business Angel Network’s medtech syndicate, have also invested.
Why: The startup is developing a prognostic test called OncoMasTR for early-stage breast cancer.
Source: Fora
Who: Aperee, a new investment fund by Cork-based investment firm Blackbee, seeks funding.
What: €250m is being targeted from both institutional and professional private investors and around €30m has been raised to-date.
Why: Funds will be used to purchase and develop care homes in Ireland.
Source: Irish Independent
Who: Eddie O’Connor, a wind energy entrepreneur seeks investment.
What: First funding round aims to raise up to €10m.
Why: The funds will be used to start off new renewable energy venture Supernode, led by CEO John Fitzgerald.
Source: Irish Times
Who: Dublin-based fintech company Assure Hedge, founded by Barry McCarthy in 2016, has raised funding.
What: €1.62m fundraise was led by chairman Richard Hayes and Rob Smith by c. €600,000 each. A number of angel investors also backed the start up.
Why: The start-up is aiming to double headcount over the next year to 30 people as it seeks to build on an increase in business, largely due to Brexit uncertainty.
Source: Irish Times
Who: Siro, an Irish broadband provider, has secured funding.
What: €200m has been provided from a syndicate of five international banks including Ulster Bank, NatWest, HSBC, BNP Paribas and Royal Bank of Canada.
Why: The proceeds will be used to accelerate the company’s business plan to connect 450,000 homes and businesses to a full fibre one gigabit (1,000 megabits) service.
Source: Irish Times
Who: Linked Finance, a peer to peer lending group, has raised finance.
What: €1.2m was raised from a group of over thirty investors including many of the existing backers of the business.
Why: The capital raised will help grow the business which is planning to double its work force to 50 people.
Source: Irish Times
Who: Axial3D, a Belfast software development start-up has raised funding.
What: €2.7m funding was raised from lead investor, London based Imprimatar Capital Fund Management and a consortium of surgical angel investors in the US.
Why: The funding will be used to focus further on North American and European markets.
Source: Irish Times
When you look at the ISEQ index you can draw a line to the founders of the many great success stories from Kerry, CRH, Ryanair, Total Produce, Kingspan, Smurfit, Flutter entertainment (nee Paddy Power) etc.
3.4%
The year-on-year increase in number of trips to Ireland by overseas residents for June 2019, representing a total of 1,061,800 trips during June.
@CSOIreland
8.7% and 11.5%
The year-on-year increase in the volume and value of mortgage drawdowns, respectively, for Q2 2019, according to the Banking & Payment Federation Ireland.
€6.2bn
The value of problem loans sold by lenders in the Republic of Ireland so far this year, driven by a massive AIB non-performing loans disposal. According to US investment bank Evercore.
@IrishTimesBiz
4%
The y-o-y decrease in total job postings across all industries for the three months to June 30. According to (link: https://go.renatus.ie/e/
@IndoBusiness
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