Ascribe acquires HEIS in £6.5m deal

Healthcare solutions group, Ascribe, has acquired clinical and management information system supplier, HE Information Systems, in a £6.492m deal designed to enable Ascribe to “restructure its efforts in line with the opportunities offered by the delays in the National Programme for IT.”

HE Information Systems (HEIS) supplies software to 21 hospitals within the NHS, many of which also use Ascribe’s pharmacy or accident & emergency systems.

Ascribe said in its announcement of the deal: “This acquisition marks a step change for the group. The HEIS PAS product provides a strategic offering in the patient administration system (PAS) and secondary care, electronic patient record markets. The management will join the Ascribe team, allowing the group to restructure its efforts in line with the opportunities offered by the delays in the National Programme [for IT].”

Stephen Critchlow, Ascribe’s founder and executive chairman, said: “This acquisition positions Ascribe firmly as a leading health IT solutions provider across primary and secondary care. HEIS has an excellent and highly complementary product and will also bring a strong, experienced management team to the group. We will now be able to drive organic growth from a complete product set created from best of breed applications.”

The HEIS deal is the latest in a series of acquisitions which has seen the Ascribe group broaden its footprint in the health IT market well beyond its original base in pharmacy and medicines management.

Critchlow told E-Health Insider that the deal would be followed by a period of consolidation. “It could only be three months or it could be 12 months. We have to get everyone aligned to the same aim.”

This move towards a “very consolidated approach” in the group was much more important that buying the next company, he said.

The total of £6.492m comprises: £2.994m cash and 3,326,666 shares in the ordinary capital of Ascribe worth £0.998m, plus £1.25m cash and £1.25m worth of shares, deferred for up to three years. In the year ended 31 March 2005, HEIS made a profit before tax of £0.52m on a turnover of £2.5m.

The Bolton-based Ascribe group provides solutions to emergency and minor injuries units, mental health and social care units, hospitals requiring patient administration systems (PAS) and medical equipment management, hospital and retail pharmacies, and general practice surgeries.

Ascribe plc was floated on AIM in 2004, and currently employs 170 people though its five operating companies in the UK, Hong Kong, Kenya, Australia and New Zealand.