Software firm Proactis to help customers navigate Brexit

Proactis said coming out of the EU will introduce complexity

The Wetherby-based firm said it has faith that the business world will find a solution.

The group's chief financial officer Tim Sykes said: "The commercial world always finds a solution to a political problem.

"Coming out of the EU will introduce complexity. Our position is we like the complexity. Our software helps companies to deal with it."

He was speaking as the firm reported a 31 per cent increase in revenue to £25.4m in the year to July 31.

Underlying growth rose 9 per cent over the year and said EBITDA increased 49 per cent to £7.9m.

The group reported a statutory operating loss of £2.6m, having made a profit in 2016 of £1.9m. The company said this was due to non-recurring administrative expenses related to two major acquisitions.

In July, Proactis agreed to acquire US-based spend management solutions company Perfect Commerce in a deal worth over £100m.

The firm also bought e-procurement business Millstream Associates last November.

Alan Aubrey, chairman of Proactis, said: “The strong trading and financial performance has set a positive tone for what is set to be an exciting year ahead following the group’s transformational acquisition of Perfect Commerce post period end."

The acquisition of Millstream was the fifth acquisition in a three-year time frame and the group said it had seen an encouraging post-acquisition performance.

The firm is now "engaged heavily" in the integration process with Perfect as it looks to realise the synergistic benefits of the acquisition.

Mr Sykes said: "It's very early days. We've owned Perfect for two and a bit months.

"There are natural synergistic cost savings. We had a target of £5m in cost savings. We have already realised £2.5m of savings so we are very confident of hitting that target."

New chief executive Hamp Wall said: "We need to make sure we are focused on existing customers. Customers want to make sure they are still important."

The group said that mergers and acquisitions remain a fundamental part of the group’s growth strategy and it has a pipeline of opportunities under review.

"We aim to deliver a strong organic business and supplement it with M&A," said Mr Sykes.

"We need to demonstrate we have delivered what we said we would and we need to do that first."

The group said it saw a strong performance in terms of new names, up-selling and customer retention.