Acquisitive Marlowe Plc swoops for e-learning software firm in £25m deal

Marlowe Plc has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire e-learning and compliance software provider Riskwize Limited, which trades as EssentialSkillz, in a £25 million deal. The acquisition fee is a 5.5x multiple of EssentialSkillz’s run rate revenues of £4.5 million, on which it generated a 49 per cent adjusted EBITDA margin.

Founded in 2001, EssentialSkillz provides more than 70 customisable e-learning courses, focused on areas including wellbeing, health & safety and business protection. The company’s compliance and training platform allows organisations to engage employees in all areas of compliance.

Marlowe says that it expects the acquisition to generate strong synergies and cost savings from the integration of the target business into its GRC division. The acquisition increases the group’s run rate revenues to £335 million and EBITDA to £60 million, putting it on track to achieve its ambition of £100 million run rate EBITDA by the end of the 2024 financial year.

Since its formation in 2015, Marlowe has operated an ambitious acquisition strategy that has seen it take over around 50 companies as of this year. During this time, the group’s market capitalisation has grown from around £5 million to approximately £250 million.

Following the takeover of EssentialSkillz, the company is targeting further organic and acquisitive growth and has announced plans to raise gross proceeds of around £50 million through a placing of over 5.5 million new ordinary shares.

The proceeds of this placing will be used to fund the consideration for the EssentialSkillz acquisition, as well as contributing to additional near-term accretive bolt-on opportunities, in line with Marlowe’s acquisition strategy.

Marlowe CEO Alex Dacre commented: “This acquisition of EssentialSkillz is the next step in our strategy to become the compliance software market leader. EssentialSkillz is a leading compliance SaaS and eLearning business of scale and its merger with our new WorkNest platform further strengthens our one-stop-shop regulatory compliance offering for our clients.”

“The proposed fundraise will also provide Marlowe with additional funding for near-term accretive bolt-on M&A, in line with our strategy to deepen and broaden our activities to address more and more of our customers’ safety and regulatory compliance needs.”


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