Acquisition of eThink Education for up to $36m
7 December 2020
Learning Technologies Group plc
("LTG", the "Group")
(AIM: LTG)
Acquisition of eThink Education for up to $36m
- Delivering on strategy to consolidate high-growth Moodle market
- US-focused eThink is LTG's third Moodle acquisition, building a sector powerhouse
Learning Technologies Group plc, the provider of services and technologies for digital learning and talent management, has acquired eThink Education LLC ('eThink'), a leading provider of Moodle-based learning management systems (LMS), for an initial cash consideration of $20.0 million (c.£14.8 million).
eThink is an industry leader in North America in the high-growth Moodle open-source LMS market and will be integrated into LTG's Open LMS business acquired in April 2020. eThink follows the acquisition of eCreators in September 2020 and marks a further step in LTG's strategic goal of consolidating the Moodle market, building further complementary expertise and geographical reach into Open LMS.
eThink has delivered strong and consistent growth in revenue (FY20: c.$9.5 million) and EBIT (FY20: c.$2.8 million) and is well positioned to accelerate this through joining the Open LMS business and taking advantage of opportunities to generate further value as part of an enlarged LTG with market-leading Moodle expertise.
Cash consideration at completion was $20.0 million (c.£14.8 million). Further performance payments capped at $16.0 million (c.£11.9 million) are payable in cash, based on ambitious incremental revenue growth targets in each of the years ending 31st December 2021, 2022 and 2023. The acquisition, which completed on 4th December 2020, was funded from LTG's cash resources and is expected to be immediately earnings accretive.
eThink is renowned in the industry for outstanding customer service and high-quality professional services and has market strength in North America, building out a greater global footprint between Open LMS, eThink and Australia-based eCreators. eThink adds approximately 40 Moodle specialists to the business with strong leadership to drive forward the integration process and generate further opportunities for growth.
With the addition of 325 hosted Moodle clients, the Open LMS business now has more than 1,460 cloud-based Moodle clients, and 8,000,000 users.
Acquisition of JCA Solutions
LTG also acquired JCA Solutions ('JCA') on 3rd November 2020 for $1.0 million. JCA operates in the e-learning interoperability standards market and will be merged with LTG's Rustici Software business. George Vilches, JCA's owner and CEO will focus on software products at Rustici. This small bolt-on acquisition further consolidates Rustici's dominant market leading position in the e-learning standards market, which is strategically important as companies create, distribute, manage and deploy more digital learning content from a wide array of innovative vendors and platforms.
Jonathan Satchell, CEO of LTG, said:
"eThink is an important addition to further build-out the Open LMS business acquired in April this year and create an industry powerhouse in the high-growth Moodle market. The eThink team has built a strong business delivering high levels of growth and profitability, which we expect to be further enhanced through integration with Open LMS. This year has seen incredible growth for LTG's Moodle capability and it now represents about 20% of the Group's recurring software revenue."
ENDS
Enquiries:
|
Learning Technologies Group plc Jonathan Satchell, Chief Executive Neil Elton, Chief Financial Officer
|
+44 (0)20 7402 1554 |
|
Numis Securities Limited (NOMAD and Corporate Broker) Stuart Skinner, Nick Westlake, Ben Stoop
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+44 (0)20 7260 1000 |
|
Goldman Sachs International (Joint Corporate Broker) Bertie Whitehead, Adam Laikin
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+44 (0)20 7774 1000 |
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FTI Consulting (Public Relations Adviser) Rob Mindell / Jamie Ricketts / Chris Birt |
+44 (0)20 3727 1000 |
About LTG
LTG is a leader in the growing workplace digital learning and talent management market. The Group offers end-to-end learning and talent solutions ranging from strategic consultancy, through a range of content and platform solutions to analytical insights that enable corporate and government clients to close the gap between current and future workforce capability.
LTG is listed on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (LTG.L) and headquartered in London. The Group has offices in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
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