Internet of Things company Vianet has bought an America firm in a deal that could be worth up to £4.5m.
Vianet, which has its headquarters in Stockton-on-Tees, has bought Denver-based Beverage Metrics Inc (BMI), which provides inventory software solutions to the USA hospitality sector. The deal - worth an initial £577,500 - includes customers, an established operating platform, software IP, patents for barcode 3D scanning and advanced technology for point-of-sale data integration.
BMI’s five employees will be brought into Vianet’s USA subsidiary Vianet Americas Inc. Vianet is now issuing 700,000 new shares to raise the £577,000 initial consideration payment. A deferred consideration of 7% of Vianet America’s net revenue from 2024 to 2028 is also included in the deal, capped at a maximum of £4m.
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Vianet said the deal would provide a “comprehensive one stop drinks management solution which enables operators to reduce costs, improve productivity and maximise sales” and said it would boost growth in the UK and help make the company profitable in the US. The company has made an an application for 700,000 new ordinary shares to be admitted to trading on the AIM market.
Vianet chairman James Dickson said: “We are delighted to acquire the trade and assets of BMI. Having worked alongside the team for some years we understand both the quality of the people and the excellence of the software and we believe that combining their products and skillset into the Vianet business will give us a truly market leading offering.
“This increased presence in the USA together with our evolving strategic relationships will give us a significant boost in growing our presence in what is a huge market, as well as providing us with increased opportunities in our UK hospitality operations. Vianet has had an encouraging start to FY2024 and looks forward to the future with great confidence.”
Vianet will release its full-year results next month, having recently said that it expected turnover to be up 7% to more than £14m, while operating profit could increase 30% to £3.1m amid contract renewals and new business.
The company has technology on data gathering that was originally developed for the drinks retailing market but is also applied to gaming machines, utilities management and point-of-sale systems. The pandemic and the global semiconductor shortage have provided challenges for the firm in recent years.
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