Access Group acquires thankQ

Mid-market ERP provider, Access Group (Access) acquired fundraising and CRM software specialist, thankQ, in a £2.7m deal at the beginning of December 2012. The acquisition, which is the seventh deal for Access in the past 12 months, sees the group strengthen its not-for-profit (NFP) offering, where it already has over 530 customers using its finance and human resources solutions. The latest addition to the portfolio means Access will provide a fully-integrated finance and fundraising CRM system to the sector.

The acquisition allows Access to strengthen its sector focus by leveraging the joint expertise in both companies and building on best practice in software development, implementation and support. NFP customers can now move away from manual data transfers between fundraising and finance systems and enhance their solution with collaborative, mobile and agile business intelligence. thankQ customers will be able to take advantage of the Access aCloud solutions capabilities that are especially suited for the sector.

Chris Bayne, CEO for Access, commented, “Having worked closely with the not-for-profit sector for many years, we know that there is strong demand for tightly integrated finance and fundraising systems. With the acquisition of thankQ, Access is now able to offer a fully integrated best-of-breed solution bringing time and cost savings to our NFP customers and improving the reporting of both financial and non-financial data.”

John Bird, MD of thankQ, added, “Joining Access is a great opportunity for our customers and staff. It’s the perfect fit both in terms of approach and technology; their team understands the complexities of our market space and is passionate about what we’ve been looking to achieve. By fully integrating the Access and thankQ solutions, we’ll make a positive impact on the NFP sector by helping our customers improve the way they operate and gain greater efficiencies across their organisation. With the addition of Access’ HR solution, we can also help them make the most of their best asset – their people.”

The deal forms part of Access’ business plan to continue its growth both organically and through selected acquisitions. For the financial year to June 2013, the company is on track to produce EBITDA of around £8.5million on revenues of £43million, with organic growth expected to be in double digits. Access will continue its investment in R&D with a focus on a cloud based proposition, alongside further strategic acquisitions.