This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014.
Checkit plc
("Checkit" or the "Group")
Acquisition and Senior Business Development Appointments
Acquisition of Tutela LLC
Checkit plc (AIM:CKT) is pleased to announce the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of its US based sole distributor Tutela Monitoring Systems LLC ("Tutela") including cash of approximately $0.25m in Tutela as at the date of completion for a total upfront cash consideration of $0.85m (£0.62m). The acquisition has been funded from the Group's existing cash resources.
Tutela was previously owned by Next Control Systems Limited (now Checkit UK Limited, a subsidiary of the Group), before Next Control Systems Limited was acquired by the Group in May 2019. It was sold to the US management team of Tutela in August 2018.
Tutela which is based in Florida, provides wireless temperature monitoring systems for all applications and facilities which store sensitive inventory for businesses within the healthcare sector. The Group intends to utilise Tutela as a platform to pursue all industries and verticals targeted by Checkit.
In the year ending 31 December 2020 Tutela's sales were approximately $2m (£1.46m) with profit before tax of $0.27m (£0.20m) and net assets (including cash) amounting to $0.16m (£0.12m). If the businesses had been consolidated during that period, approximately £1 million would have been added to Group sales per annum after eliminating intercompany sales on consolidation.
The acquisition serves to accelerate the Group's US expansion plans, providing a footprint and an opportunity to add further scale. The Directors believe that, based on relative population sizes, the US represents an addressable market around five times larger than the UK, and therefore believe the acquisition represents a significant milestone in its growth strategy.
Senior business development appointments
Checkit is also pleased to announce the appointment of two senior business development executives, Kit Kyte and Steve Peck, effective 1 February 2021.
Kit Kyte has joined the Group as Chief Commercial Officer in the UK and will lead the Sales, Marketing and Commercial Operations functions. He was previously with New York headquartered Genpact, a global professional services firm delivering digital transformation by putting digital and data to work to create competitive advantage.
Steve Peck has joined Checkit as Managing Director of Checkit Inc. (which includes Tutela as mentioned above). Steve is based in Texas and was previously employed by Oracle NetSuite, the world's number 1 cloud business management software suite. Steve has considerable experience of Checkit's two most important vertical markets, Healthcare and Food Retail.
Commenting on the acquisition and the appointments, Keith Daley, Executive Chairman of Checkit said:
"The acquisition of Tutela marks another milestone for Checkit. It provides a base from which to expand in our key geographical target market, the US. We look forward to realising the many opportunities that the transaction and these appointments present."
Enquiries:
Checkit plc |
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+44 (0) 1223 371000 |
www.checkit.net |
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Keith Daley (Executive Chair) |
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Aylsa Muir (Chief Financial Officer) |
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N+1 Singer (Nominated Adviser & Broker) |
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+44 (0) 20 7496 3000 |
Shaun Dobson / George Tzimas (Corporate Finance) |
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Rachel Hayes (Corporate Broking) |
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