Solution 6 Shareholders Approve Novient Inc Strategic Acquisition
Atlanta, USA and Sydney, Australia (ots)
Shareholders of Solution 6 Holdings Ltd., (ASX:SOH) overwhelmingly approved the group's acquisition of U.S.-based Novient Inc., at an Extraordinary General Meeting.
The Novient acquisition comprises the issue of 34 million shares in Solution 6, of which 2.4 million shares will be issued in 16 months, along with cash of $US150,000. In addition, Solution 6 shareholders approved the issue of Solution 6 shares to key Novient employees in lieu of existing Novient bonus obligations.
Chief Executive of Solution 6 Holdings, Neil Gamble, said the acquisition resulted in clear worldwide leadership for Solution 6 in the market for specialist software solutions designed for professional services organizations. These include consulting firms, lawyers, accountants and IT services businesses.
He said the acquisition was consistent with Solution 6's strategic focus on the professional services market, while strengthening the group's product range and management capability in the U.S.
"Novient has a blue chip customer base in 48 countries, and our combined customer list now spans the world's largest and most prominent global service organizations, including Accenture, SAP, Clifford Chance, Computer Sciences Corporation, Deloitte Consulting, Ernst & Young, KPMG LLP, and Nortel Networks.
"But equally important is the increased capability we now have to compete and grow in the U.S. - the world's largest professional services market," Gamble said.
Gamble also told the meeting the group's professional software services division would later this month report annual revenue of more than $A150 million and meet its target EBITDA margin of 10 percent (before corporate allocations) for the full year.
"The division has continued to improve its cash generation such that the group's operational cash reserves are above $40 million," Gamble said. "We expect further efficiencies and greater market leverage as we move quickly to better integrate our product groups worldwide."
Gamble also announced that the Chief Executive of Novient
Inc., R. Halsey Wise, had been appointed Chief Executive of Solution 6's combined North American operations.
Wise said the combination of Solution 6 and Novient had been well received by the market, and had already had a positive impact in assisting Novient close new sales.
"Market analyst comment has been particularly favorable," Wise said. "The latest analyst report by Aberdeen Group has highlighted the complementary Novient and Solution 6 product sets, and the potential for the combined company to dominate the market."
Aberdeen's report, Professional Services Automation: Technology-Enabled Integration of People, Process and Capital Assets, defines the Professional Services Automation market (PSA), investigates factors driving the market, and analyzes overall market trends and technology solutions.
In the report, David Hofferberth, research director of Aberdeen's PSA practice says: "These companies (Novient and Solution 6) are extremely complementary in their global scope, technology expertise, and customer make-up... The new Solution 6 has the potential to truly dominate the market across every metric."
About Novient
Novient is the pioneer of software solutions for the service economy. Novient provides visibility into resources and projects to allocate the right people to the right projects at the right time. Through sophisticated optimization technology, Novient aligns skilled workforces with strategic corporate objectives. With over 160,000 users in 48 countries, Novient's Service Process Optimization (SPO) solution is used by the world's largest organizations to optimize workforce performance. Customers include Accenture, Cingular, Computer Sciences Corporation, DuPont, HP, Manugistics, Nortel Networks, and SAP. For more information, please visit www.novient.com.
About Solution 6
With over 5,500 customers, Solution 6 is the global leader in specialist business software for medium-to-large professional services organizations, including consulting firms, lawyers and accountants. Leading Solution 6 product brands - including CMS, Keystone, CABS and Viztopia - are integrated to provide the most comprehensive end-to-end solution capability available for professional services organizations worldwide. Solution 6 has over 1,100 employees in 11 countries and 20 offices, and operates through three major regional centers - North America, UK & Europe, and Asia Pacific. Solution 6 Holdings is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange - ASX: SOH. For more information, please visit www.solution6.com/home.asp.
Contact:
Sarah Molinari
Phone: +1/404-720-3600 x3896
mailto:smolinari@novient.com
Internet: http://www.novient.com
Tim Allerton
Phone: +1/61-2-9281-7272