Basware Releases Second Quarter Earnings Report

Earlier this month, Basware, the Finnish Procure-to-Pay (P2P) and eInvoicing solution provider, held its second quarter earnings call, led by their CEO Esa Tihila and CFO Mika Harjuaho. On the call, Tihila and Harjuaho reported a strong second quarter (ended 6/30/14) with sales of 31.833 million EUR and an operating profit of 1.15 million EUR, showing a nice turnaround and a 1.3 million EUR improvement over the same period last year.

Harjuaho attributed much of Basware’s success to the strong performance of its business network services, which grew 16% in sales over the quarter and now accounts for 25% of total business. Additionally, Basware reported strong growth in transaction volume with a total of 18.7 million transactions processed via the Basware Commerce Network, an amount that was 8.5 percent higher than the previous quarter and a full 29% over the same period last year.

Tihila noted that more than 100 customers have signed deals powered by the Alusta platform which was launched in 2012 (click here for our coverage of Alusta) and that momentum continues with more new deployments on the platform in Q2 than ever before. Recently added to the list of Alusta customers, Basware noted, was one of the world’s leading oil and gas companies.

As part of the earnings announcement, Basware also reconfirmed its key strategic objectives that were announced in 2013 including: an annual volume of 150 million transactions processed by the end of 2015; annual growth of 15 – 30 percent in net sales; and operating profit margin of 15 – 20 percent at the end of the strategy period

Scanmarket Launches New Supplier Information Management Tool

The Ardent Partners team was recently briefed by Scanmarket, the Danish strategic sourcing solution provider, on the heels of the launch of its new “supply base management” application. Betina Nygaard, CEO and Kris Colby, SVP Scanmarket, briefed our team on the new product’s capabilities and how it fits within Scanmarket’s current solution footprint. Nygaard sees a huge opportunity for procurement organizations to “be able to better store supplier information and collaborate and communicate with suppliers through a single system.”

Beyond standard supplier information management capabilities, Scanmarket’s new supply base management application features outlook integration, which allows for direct communication between users and suppliers, as well as mass communication with suppliers. It also features different search options, allowing users to search different suppliers, categories, compartments/segments, and company and contact profiles (past and present). Additionally, the tool features supplier questionnaires, which allows users to weight certain questions, particularly for supplier performance. This feature will enable users to rate suppliers along a certain criteria – say, key performance indicators (KPIs), or whether they provide certain products. The solution is now available and according to Nygaard is helping to drive up Scanmarket’s average deal size.

Opus Global to Acquire Hiperos

On July 8, GTCR, a leading private equity firm, announced that its management partnership, Opus Global, had acquired Hiperos, a leading provider of third-party management software that connects more than 300,000 third parties to companies across many industry verticals. The companies report that Hiperos will continue operating under the name Hiperos (as an Opus Global Company), and will continue serving the information management, risk management, and compliance markets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Opus Global is an investment partnership that was formed in September 2013 between GTCR (a leading Chicago-based private equity firm) and Douglas Bergeron, current CEO of Opus Global and former CEO of VeriFone. Hiperos is Opus Global’s first acquisition and, according to Bergeron, it will be the “cornerstone of their strategy to build the preeminent risk and compliance platform in the world.” Mr. Bergeron will assume the role of Executive Chairman of Hiperos, while Greg Dickinson will remain the CEO of Hiperos and will also join the Opus Board of Directors. The acquirers note plans to invest aggressively to expand the current Hiperos operation and also note that complementary acquisitions are likely.

Lexmark International and Hyland Software Engage in a Bidding War over ReadSoft

As we’ve noted on Payables Place, a bidding war has broken out between Kentucky-based Lexmark International and Ohio-based Hyland Software for the Swedish software company, ReadSoft, with several rounds of bidding leaving the three companies in a financial and legal tussle. Although on 14 July, Lexmark offered to pay 50 kronor per share for ReadSoft, Hyland announced on 7 July that it controlled 10.9% of ReadSoft stock between company and individual ownership. This control has allowed Hyland to effectively block Lexmark’s offer to purchase ReadSoft, which was contingent on acceptance by at least 90% of shareholders.

Lexmark never reserved the right to waive the 90% acceptance, and so they withdrew their initial offer and presented the new offer. ReadSoft’s board has already recommended that shareholders accept the new Lexmark offer, and has engaged Evli Corporate Finance as financial advisors and Mannheimer Swartling as legal advisors. “Lexmark remains convinced that the acquisition of ReadSoft will result in a strong strategic combination,” said Paul Rooke, Lexmark chairman and chief executive officer. “Lexmark has the financial strength, size and stability required for the business to realize its full potential and will be the best home for ReadSoft and its employees.”

Should the Lexmark acquisition take place, ReadSoft will join the Perceptive Software group to help expand Lexmark’s business footprint in the European market. Our an initial analysis of the original Lexmark bid in May is located here. Much of that analysis still holds true, even with the bidding war Hyland instigated on June 18. Stay tuned to Payables Place for continued coverage of this bidding war.

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