SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Global HR tech platform Xref Limited (ASX: XF1) has acquired employee engagement company Voice Project. This is the third and final piece of the Xref strategy to offer a comprehensive hire-to-retire solution for employers.

Xref has established a leadership position in automated applicant reference checking. Last year, Xref launched its exit survey product, and now with the acquisition of Voice Project it accelerates the launch Sits Pulse and Engagement Survey offering to complete the hire-to-retire product portfolio.

Xref will pay $2 million cash from its existing cash reserves at completion plus up to $2 million in scripts on the 1st and 2nd anniversaries following completion, conditional on performance.

The acquisition will add approximately $4 million to Xrefs revenues and increase staff from 85 to 100. Voice Project is profitable and is forecast to be EPS accretive to Xref.

The acquisition creates opportunities for cross-selling by giving Voice Projects 944 clients access to Xref’s complementary services and offering Voice Projects services to Xref’s 1,300 enterprise clients and 15,000 users.

Xref CEO and Founder, Lee-Martin Seymour, said, “This acquisition is an important step towards Xref’s goal of becoming the leading global hire-to-retire employee feedback platform and is a great example of two profitable and credible Australian technology businesses uniting to be more competitive in the global market. This is a true win-win for all involved.

“The complementary nature of the two firms and the huge value in the resulting end-to-end product for employers will allow Xref to compete alongside other leading global players in the engagement survey category.

“Xref will now offer a complete hire-to-retire engagement service for employers that is more comprehensive than most other well-known brands, and we will be the only one covering 195 countries.

Voice Project’s IP, database and technology are second to none, and its senior management has remained at the helm for decades. It is a profitable and highly credible business, with particular strengths in benchmarking, survey design and reporting and a number of other great technology assets that will now be integrated into the Xref platform.”

Voice Project Founder and Director, Dr Peter Langford, said: “We are so excited to see the value of our survey technology and client base being recognised by a global leader like Xref. We couldn’t be happier to help create the world’s only complete end-to-end solution for employers.

“Employers develop such a plethora of important staffing information right from the moment an applicant contacts them, all the way through to that employee retiring or moving on. Until now, the solutions for harnessing this data have been fragmented and have almost always resulted in lost or incomplete employee information. Not anymore.”

Xref Chairman, Tom Stianos, said “While the Voice Project acquisition is forecast to be EPS accretive to our shareholders, the more significant benefits are that it completes our product portfolio (hire-to-retire strategy), provides cross-sell opportunities, and accelerates our growth. I look forward to Peter Langford joining the Xref leadership team.”

Xref will use its own cash surplus to fund the acquisition and sees this as a significant investment into growth and increased profitability.