Atlantic Global on market after takeover offers

The company, based in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, said it had received two confidential preliminary expressions of interest to acquire the company.

Atlantic said that while it has a secure future as an independent business, there may be other organisations which are better placed to take the group for- ward.

It added that a takeover could significantly accelerate the growth of the business.

“We felt we ought to test the market,” said chairman Adrian Bradshaw.

“The two approaches are from UK companies with a foreign twist. We thought we should have a full blown sales process.”

He added that a takeover would be good news for the group’s 18 employees.

“This is a real opportunity for our staff. Anyone buying this business is going to invest in it.”

Atlantic said it reserves the right to reject any approach or terminate discussions at any time and said there is no certainty any offer will be made.

Atlantic’s managing director Eugene Blaine said: “A sale is not a foregone conclusion. We are doing this from a position of strength.

“We’ve got a strong balance sheet, we’re cash generative and we’re profitable.

“The obvious solution is to plug us into someone else, it would be a successful marriage.”

Mr Bradshaw added that both shareholders and the management team are supportive of the sale plans.

“It’s not that we can’t go forward on our own.

“We don’t need to be rescued, but the US software scene is pretty buoyant at the moment,” he said.

Mr Blaine said: “This is a small Yorkshire company that employs less than 20 people, yet we’re dealing with some of the world’s biggest organisations.”

Atlantic has won a number of new customers this year including FriendsLife, The Lewis Group, Happy Customer and TAH Limited.

It has also won new business from Specsavers and Serco Transport.

The announcement co-incided with half year results which showed pre-tax profits rose 57 per cent to £33,000 in the six months to June 30.

“Despite difficult economic conditions continuing in the period under review, the group was profitable and secured several significant new customer wins during the first half of 2011,” said Mr Bradshaw.

“The number of Atlantic Global customers has risen to 120, with over one third now using our SaaS customer platform.”

Revenue fell to £703,000 from £728,000 in the same period of 2010.

The group reported a loss of £220,000 in 2010 after a number of big contracts were deferred to 2011.

Atlantic designs and sells software which is used by businesses to manage their resources.

Last November, it launched its fully automated self service SaaS product.

Atlantic said the introduction of the automated SaaS platform provides an effective means of targeting small and medium-sized enterprises including individual departments within a larger organisation.

Atlantic develops cost-effective software applications to manage projects and improve the management of the business.

It counts GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Aviva among its long-standing clients.

Over the past few months it has introduced a number of downloadable videos to help customers get the most out of its soft- ware.

Video tutorials and user guides can be accessed through the product or via Atlantic’s YouTube channel.

The group has also launched a number of solutions which will choose the most appropriate system for the customer to trial.

“We believe these initiatives will improve the group’s sales conversion ratio and will also reduce delays in the sales pipeline,” said Mr Bradshaw.

The group said it is not proposing an interim dividend this year after paying out 0.1p per share last year.

[email protected]