The Access Group acquires Unleashed Software to expand its global presence and potential in manufacturing, wholesale and distribution markets
The Access Group today announced the acquisition of Unleashed, a New Zealand headquartered organisation offering best practice inventory management software for the manufacturing, wholesale and distribution markets across Australasia, the UK, US and EMEA. The acquisition is currently going through all the necessary regulatory approvals and this process is expected to complete successfully in the coming weeks.
The addition of Unleashed significantly advances Access’ market-leading solutions in these sectors in the UK and building on the recent acquisition of Attaché, strengthens our position in the Asia Pacific region, specifically New Zealand and Australia.
Unleashed was founded over 10 years ago by Greg Murphy when he recognised there was a need for more sophisticated process management and intelligent data in the wholesale, distribution and manufacturing sector around the management of supply, production, inventory and sales.
Since then Unleashed has grown to provide products and services to more than 4,000 customers across the UK, EMEA, US, New Zealand and Australia.
With their head office in New Zealand, Unleashed has a team of over 100 people across NZ, Australia and the UK. With the acquisition of Unleashed bringing additional revenues of £9.6m UK (AU$17.5m/NZ$18.5m) to the division, Access ERP establishes itself as a leading provider of ERP solutions with revenues exceeding £83m (AU$150m/NZ$161m).
This latest acquisition builds on the announcement earlier this month from The Access Group of significant year-on-year pro forma revenue growth of 47%, leading to pro forma revenues of £315 million UK (AU$570M) and pro forma adjusted EBITDA of £109 million UK (AU$197m) for its fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 (“FY20”). These results continue 15 straight years of uninterrupted profitable growth for the company.
Brendan Flattery, Managing Director, Access ERP commented:
“Our ERP business supports customers across online retail, warehousing, distribution, construction and manufacturing in the UK, EU, Australia, New Zealand and the US with end-to-end Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). With the global ERP market expected to reach $49.5bn* in the next five years, the addition of Unleashed into the Access portfolio gives us a significant opportunity to increase our presence and potential across these sectors. Our integrated approach to software, processes and data enables organisations across the globe to benefit from clarity and control of their inventory, from source to sale. We are really excited to be welcoming Gareth, Lisa Miles-Heal and the rest of the Unleashed team into the Access Group.”
Gareth Berry, CEO, Unleashed commented:
“Joining Access gives Unleashed a new level of expertise in the provision of integrated software solutions, an acceleration of our product development and gives our customers the opportunity to explore a wider range of ERP and business management solutions from a single provider. We set out over a decade ago to give businesses the freedom to better make, manage and move products. We believe that Good Products Matter and have championed consumer choice by building the best software with a great team to support our customers to achieve their business potential. Our story continues but in an enhanced way as part of The Access Group, and we are really excited to be joining Brendan and the team as part of the Access ERP business.”
Alison Dodd, CEO, Access ANZ commented:
“Our approach to the Australia and New Zealand market since acquiring Attaché Software in 2019 has been to bring our leading UK solutions in HR, Digital Learning, Payroll and Finance to the region while at the same time look for local solutions that amplify and innovate how we support customers. With 35% of our existing customer base in Australia, New Zealand and the Islands being in the retail, manufacturing and wholesale industry, the addition of Unleashed inventory management software gives customers a more complete, integrated offering.”
About The Access Group
The Access Group is a leading provider of business management software to mid-sized organisations. It helps more than 35,000 customers globally across commercial and not-for-profit sectors become more productive and efficient. Its innovative Access Workspace cloud solutions transform the way business software is used, giving every employee the freedom to do more.
Founded in 1991, The Access Group employs more than 2,900 staff. The Access Group acquired Attaché Software in November 2019 to expand Access Workspace solutions internationally. For more information about The Access Group, visit www.theaccessgroup.com.au or www.theaccessgroup.com.
About Unleashed
Unleashed is cloud software that gives businesses the freedom to better make, manage and move products — by enabling them to achieve complete clarity and control over suppliers, production, inventory and sales.
We champion Good Products. Products that are made, moved and sold by people that care — care about their craft, product, provenance, production process and impact. Products that challenge the monopolies who have long dominated what we buy and consume.
We pour all our energy into empowering businesses with software that gives them a choice. Choice to adopt a few powerful, affordable cloud apps instead of an unwieldy, expensive or ineffective legacy system.
It’s why we are trusted by thousands of customers — and hundreds of partners — worldwide. With offices in New Zealand, UK, and Australia, we stay true to our roots while serving businesses around the globe.
