Marlowe buys Barbour EHS from Informa Plc for £32 million
LONDON, UK: Marlowe plc has acquired Barbour Environment, Health and Safety (Barbour EHS) from Informa plc for a net cash consideration of £32 million.
Headquartered in London and established in 1957 as a print-based regulatory catalogue, Barbour EHS has evolved into a leading regulatory SaaS platform, providing data, information and insights to more than 1,000 customers who use its online subscription product to manage their health, safety and environmental regulatory compliance.
Barbour EHS’s legal registers, regulatory trackers, editorial insight and workflow tools provide customers with a holistic cloud-based environmental, health and safety solution which helps them to meet their legal and regulatory compliance requirements.
The Acquisition is a major development in Marlowe’s digital strategy to become the market leader in compliance software. Positioned alongside Marlowe’s existing health & safety capabilities, the Marlowe Board believes that the addition of Barbour EHS allows the Group to offer its clients a broad spectrum of consulting, software, assurance and intelligence addressing their health, safety and environmental needs.
Barbour EHS further expands Marlowe’s base of SaaS subscription revenues and offers cross-selling opportunities with Marlowe’s existing health & safety consulting and software activities, particularly the Group’s Governance, Risk and Compliance division’s existing health & safety, eLearning and compliance software business lines.
In the year to 31 December 2020 Barbour EHS generated revenues of £5.4 million and is expected to generate £3.0 million of adjusted EBITDA under Marlowe ownership. The consideration is payable in cash upon completion and is funded from Marlowe’s existing cash and debt facilities.
Alex Dacre, Chief Executive of Marlowe plc, said: “The acquisition of Barbour is a major step in expanding Marlowe’s position in the UK’s fast-growing governance, risk and compliance software market. In combination with our portfolio of compliance software products, we believe that Barbour’s platform enables us to offer clients a complete regulatory solution which enhances their visibility and understanding of evolving standards and regulations and assists them in managing their environmental, health & safety risks.
We continue to make strong progress on our digital strategy to grow Marlowe’s compliance software revenues and the acquisition of Barbour marks a significant milestone in increasing our base of SaaS subscription revenues, providing further cross-selling opportunities and strengthening our position in this important and attractive market.”
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