Member Article

Veritape acquired in £10.6m transaction

Manchester-based business Veritape has been acquired for £10.6m by Hemel Hempstead-based secure payment business, Eckoh.

Veritape is a provider of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) and has offices in Alkrington in Manchester, St Albans and New York, U.S.A.

With unaudited annual revenues of £766,000 at the end of August 2012 and pre-tax profits of £230,000, Veritape should immediately enhance Eckoh’s earnings when the deal is complete.

The transactions consists of an initial cash consideration of £5.2m and £1.1m in ordinary Eckoh shares, while an additional consideration of £4.3m will be added in cash and shares if Veritape meet their profit targets.

Veritape also said that since August last year they have experienced significant growth, and expect their revenue to have doubled in comparison with 2012’s results.

Nik Philpot, chief executive at Eckoh, said: “We are delighted to be announcing the acquisition of Veritape which consolidates our market leading position in the UK for PCI DSS compliant payment products and strengthens our proposition in overseas markets.

“The market for PCI DSS compliant payment solutions continues to underpin our growth projections and with the regulatory requirements becoming more stringent, the ability to offer a broader product offering will enable us to satisfy more of this growing demand.”

Eckoh hopes the acquisition will maximise its level 1 status for PCI DSS through payment products, while expanding its product portfolio and customer base.

Mr Philpot concluded: “This transaction and Veritape’s complementary products will ensure that our payment solutions remain best in class and the strong cross selling opportunities across both customer bases will enable Eckoh to accelerate our growth.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .