Following our story in the last issue of Housing Technology (July 2012, page 2) about Aareon acquiring mobile software provider 1st Touch, Kirona Group has announced that it has bought the dynamic scheduling specialists Xmbrace for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition would seem to be a good strategic fit for both companies, strengthening Kirona’s position in the housing sector through Xmbrace’s installed base of Opti-Time customers at the same time as exposing Xmbrace to Kirona’s wider commercial markets.
David Murray, managing director, Kirona Group, said, “Across all the markets we operate in, we are seeing increased demand for fully-managed, end-to-end dynamic scheduling and mobile solutions, integrated in real time with downstream systems.
“Bringing the companies together will allow greater investment in the combined technology offerings and drive better outcomes for our customers and partners.”
The sale price hasn’t been disclosed, with Kirona only saying that the acquisition of Xmbrace would mean that its forecasted 2012 revenues would increase from around £4 million to more than £7 million.
David Todd, managing director, Xmbrace, said, “The Xmbrace team looks forward to growing the important relationships with our customers and partners. Over the coming weeks, we will be contacting them to share more detailed information about the exciting investment plans for the future of the combined business.”
Kirona said that it would be ‘business as usual’ for existing Xmbrace customers, supported by the same Xmbrace team, and that the partner companies that Xmbrace had worked with before, notwithstanding Aareon and 1st Touch’s own merger, would continue to engage with Kirona.
The company added that while existing Kirona customers using scheduling software from companies other than Xmbrace would not be obliged to implement Opti-Time, there had already been a trend for its customers to transition to Opti-Time from other systems over the last year.
