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Marlowe acquires occupational health service provider Healthwork
10th Jun 2021 11:08
(Sharecast News) - Safety and compliance software and services company Marlowe has acquired occupational health service provider Healthwork, it announced on Thursday, for an expected enterprise value of £17.2m.
The AIM-traded firm said Manchester-based Healthwork, founded in 2003, employs around 120 staff, including more than 80 clinical professionals.
It said the acquisition would add "significant" scale to its current occupational health offering of employee mental health, wellbeing and health surveillance services, and would offer synergies with its wider governance, risk and compliance division.
The addition of Healthwork would strengthen Marlowe's position in occupational health, the board claimed, which it described as a market benefiting from "strong" structural growth and a range of attractive characteristics, such as non-discretionary spend, high barriers to entry and increased demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Marlowe entered the occupational health market in March 2020 with the acquisition of Managed Occupational Health, with Healthwork set to become a platform for further acquisition-led growth within the space.
Key management would remain with the business going forward.
For the year ended 31 March 2021, Healthwork generated operating profits of £2.6m on revenues of £10.4m.
Net assets at that date totalled £2.6m.
Marlowe said the total enterprise value would comprise upfront cash of £14.2m, in addition to performance-related contingent consideration expected to be in the region of £3m.
The acquisition would be funded from the company's existing cash resources.
"The acquisition of Healthwork significantly deepens our scale and capabilities in occupational health and strengthens our position as the UK leader in regulated safety and compliance services to organisations of all sizes," said chief executive officer Alex Dacre.
"With identified synergies between Healthwork and our other occupational health and health and safety activities we are confident that this acquisition will generate attractive returns for Marlowe's shareholders.
"Our pipeline of further earnings enhancing acquisition opportunities remains buoyant and we expect to report on further progress in the coming weeks."
At 1043 BST, shares in Marlowe were down 0.13% at 780p.
The AIM-traded firm said Manchester-based Healthwork, founded in 2003, employs around 120 staff, including more than 80 clinical professionals.
It said the acquisition would add "significant" scale to its current occupational health offering of employee mental health, wellbeing and health surveillance services, and would offer synergies with its wider governance, risk and compliance division.
The addition of Healthwork would strengthen Marlowe's position in occupational health, the board claimed, which it described as a market benefiting from "strong" structural growth and a range of attractive characteristics, such as non-discretionary spend, high barriers to entry and increased demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Marlowe entered the occupational health market in March 2020 with the acquisition of Managed Occupational Health, with Healthwork set to become a platform for further acquisition-led growth within the space.
Key management would remain with the business going forward.
For the year ended 31 March 2021, Healthwork generated operating profits of £2.6m on revenues of £10.4m.
Net assets at that date totalled £2.6m.
Marlowe said the total enterprise value would comprise upfront cash of £14.2m, in addition to performance-related contingent consideration expected to be in the region of £3m.
The acquisition would be funded from the company's existing cash resources.
"The acquisition of Healthwork significantly deepens our scale and capabilities in occupational health and strengthens our position as the UK leader in regulated safety and compliance services to organisations of all sizes," said chief executive officer Alex Dacre.
"With identified synergies between Healthwork and our other occupational health and health and safety activities we are confident that this acquisition will generate attractive returns for Marlowe's shareholders.
"Our pipeline of further earnings enhancing acquisition opportunities remains buoyant and we expect to report on further progress in the coming weeks."
At 1043 BST, shares in Marlowe were down 0.13% at 780p.