REG - Oxford Metrics PLC - Acquisition of The Sempre Group

Oxford MetricsAnnouncement

11/10/2024 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20241011:nRSK7877Ha&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 7877H  Oxford Metrics PLC  11 October 2024

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute
inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No.
596/2014. Upon this announcement's publication, this inside information is now
considered in the public domain.

 

11 October 2024

Oxford Metrics plc

 

("Oxford Metrics" or the "Group")

 

Acquisition of The Sempre Group Holdings Ltd

 

Strengthens our smart manufacturing offering

Good strategic fit - access to new markets and new customers

Immediately earnings accretive

 

Oxford Metrics plc (LSE: OMG), the smart sensing and software company
servicing life sciences, entertainment, engineering and smart manufacturing
markets, is pleased to announce the acquisition of The Sempre Group Holdings
Ltd ("Sempre"), a measurement specialist solving manufacturing challenges
across multiple industries.

 

The total consideration for the Sempre business of up to £5.5m is subject to
customary adjustments for working capital, cash and debt-like items. The
consideration is to be funded through a cash consideration of £5.0m from
existing resources and up to £0.5m through an earnout contingent on Sempre
meeting business performance targets. The acquisition is expected to be
immediately earnings enhancing for the Group.

 

Founded in 2000, Gloucester-based Sempre is a measurement specialist with deep
industry knowledge and an established sales and services organisation. Through
Sempre's expert in-house consultants and partnerships, it provides high
precision metrology solutions to improve its clients' productivity and
efficiencies in the area of quality and inspection.

 

Sempre partners with over 25 well-known manufacturers including Jenoptik,
Renishaw and Micro-Vu, to offer an extensive range of products and software to
solve manufacturing challenges.

 

Commenting on the acquisition, Imogen O'Connor, CEO of Oxford Metrics, said,
"Oxford Metrics first established a foothold in the smart manufacturing market
with our Industrial Vision Systems (IVS) acquisition and we said we would
build out our presence via a targeted M&A programme.

 

Today's acquisition of Sempre strengthens our smart manufacturing division, it
has synergies with IVS and also brings us a deep pool of industry knowledge,
an established sales and services organisation plus access to new customers,
partners and products, taking us into new markets. To continue growing our
smart manufacturing division our investment strategy needs to be in both
people and products with clear commercial and technical synergies.

 

Today highly accurate, error-proof production is mission critical. Sempre
helps blue-chip manufacturers to be more efficient and improve quality -
ultimately saving time and money. As smart manufacturing increasingly becomes
the standard, we welcome our new colleagues and move forward together to
capture more of this important market."

 

 

Acquisition highlights

 

 ●    Valuable IP, know-how and expertise: Brings in-house consultants with deep
      industry knowledge and sales expertise, provides hardware, software and expert
      metrology knowledge to address and solve manufacturing challenges.
 ●    Synergies with IVS: Sempre will benefit from having access, advice and the
      resources to scale and expand to new markets and geographies - now with IVS
      added to its portfolio offering. IVS will gain access to Sempre's established
      sales and services organisation and benefit from its industry knowledge,
      customers, products and markets.
 ●    Bespoke solutions: With a broad range of solutions across measuring,
      automation, inspection management and compliance reporting, Sempre works
      closely with clients to provide bespoke solutions for quality and automation
      challenges. Opportunities to collaborate with IVS on bespoke products to solve
      customers' manufacturing challenges.
 ●    Blue-chip manufacturing partners: Trusted by over 25 well-known manufacturers
      including Jenoptik, Renishaw and Micro-Vu, offering customers an extensive
      range of premium metrology solutions.
 ●    Adds strength to existing and exposure to new industries: aerospace,
      automotive, medical, energy, precision engineering, and quality 4.0.
 ●    Strong cultural alignment and able management team: Sempre's directors, Jim
      Mangan and James Denham, will continue to lead Sempre forward as a proven,
      experienced, and incentivised management team. Founder and seller, Mike John
      will stay on in a consulting role to ensure a smooth integration.
 ●    Attractive financial profile: Immediately earnings enhancing.

 

Financials

 

Sempre has a profitable track record, driven by an average growth rate in
revenues of 8% over the past four years. In the year ended 31 December 2023
Sempre reported unaudited revenues of £6.5m (72% from the sale of metrology
solutions and 28% generated from services) and a profit before tax of £0.7m,
with net assets of £1.7m. Trading over the past eight months is consistent
with delivering a further improvement in performance.

 

Mike John, Founder of Sempre, said, "As part of Oxford Metrics, Sempre will
have access, advice and the resources to scale and expand to new markets and
geographies. One of our key criteria for exiting the business was ensuring we
found the right home to take Sempre to the next level. Oxford Metrics is
exactly that, it shares our company culture and values and has a track record
of supporting and growing growth businesses."

 

Jim Mangan, Director of Sempre, commented, "Sempre provides high quality,
accurate and reliable metrology solutions so Oxford Metrics, with its track
record in precise measurement, revolutionising processes through its
technology and software is the perfect fit to take us to the next stage of our
development. We're really excited to be joining as the Group accelerates its
focus and offering in smart manufacturing."

 

For further information please contact:

 

 Oxford Metrics                                          +44 (0) 1865 261860
 Imogen O'Connor, CEO
 Zoe Fox, CFO

 Deutsche Numis                                          +44 (0)20 7260 1000
 Simon Willis / Hugo Rubinstein / Tejas Padalkar

 FTI Consulting                                          +44 (0)20 3727 1000
 Matt Dixon / Emma Hall / Jamille Smith / Jemima Gurney

 

 

Further information on Sempre - strengthening our presence in the smart
manufacturing market

 

As more and more manufacturers are revolutionising processes, Sempre's
high-precision metrology solutions replace traditional methods with smart
manufacturing - resulting in faster, more reliable, highly accurate results
which improve manufacturing productivity and efficiencies.

 

As part of a larger group, Sempre will be able to expand its geographic
footprint benefiting from back-office synergies in HR, legal, financial
reporting and potentially marketing and operations in the future.

 

Examples of Sempre's industry application:

 

Aerospace: Trusted by a range of blue-chip aviation companies, to improve
efficiency and secure compliance with automated inspection systems and quality
management software processes. From measuring large wing spans to eliminating
bottlenecks Sempre's systems meet the highest quality compliance standards.

 

Medical: Sempre works closely with many medical device manufacturers and their
supply chains, solving metrology challenges that range from bone screws to
joint implants to catheters and blood glucose test strips - all meeting the
high medical industry standards and capable of measuring down to the
nanometre.

 

For more information, visit www.thesempregroup.com
(http://www.thesempregroup.com)

 

About Oxford Metrics

 

Oxford Metrics is a smart sensing and software company that enables the
interface between the real world and its virtual twin. Our smart sensing
technology helps over 10,000 customers in more than 70 countries, including
all of the world's top 10 games companies and all of the top 20 universities
worldwide. Founded in 1984, we started our journey in healthcare, expanded
into entertainment, winning an OSCAR® and an Emmy®, moved into defence,
engineering and smart manufacturing. We have a strong track record of creating
value by incubating, growing and then augmenting through acquisition, unique
technology businesses.

 

The Group trades through its market-leading division Vicon and, recently
acquired, Industrial Vision Systems, adding niche market strength in smart
manufacturing. Vicon (https://www.vicon.com/) is a world leader in motion
measurement analysis to thousands of customers worldwide, including Red Bull,
Imperial College London, Dreamscape Immersive, Industrial Light & Magic,
and NASA. Industrial Vision Systems (https://www.industrialvision.co.uk/) is a
specialist in machine vision software and technology for high precision,
automated quality control systems trusted by blue-chip, smart manufacturing
companies across the globe including BD, DePuy, Jaguar Land Rover, Johnson
& Johnson, Zytronic and Alkegen.

 

The Group is headquartered in Oxford with offices in California, Colorado,
Kempten and Harwell. Since 2001, Oxford Metrics (LSE: OMG), has been a quoted
company listed on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange. For
more information about Oxford Metrics, visit www.oxfordmetrics.com
(http://www.oxfordmetrics.com) .

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  ACQEAEEEFDLLFAA