Defenx PLC (LON:DFX) Chief Financial Officer Philipp Prince caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss their acquisition of Memopal
Q1: Now you’ve announced this morning the acquisition of Memopal, can you tell us a bit more about Memopal?
A1: Sure, no problem. Memopal has developed and operates now a great cloud storage solution for both consumers and businesses, we were introduced to them some months ago and we immediately liked them from the outset because they offer synchronisation of files so think of Dropbox or Google Drive but almost nuclear, they also offer backup so it’s a 2 in 1 product if you like that very few other people offer and that makes it very compelling. They built a proprietary really rather clever piece of software that enables them to use hardware and a culmination of those two gives them really low cost ability to deliver great value to users and profitability for them and now to us so as I say we really like them. We’ve actually been selling their offer since March and we know that our channel partners really want to sell it with the security products they already sell of ours, it’s really a great deal and a logical match to bring the two together and I and the Board are really confident that we can do great things integrating the business, it really yields some real benefits for the enlarged group.
Q2: So what does the acquisition mean for Defenx Plc and how will the Memopal products fit in with your current offering?
A2: Well as I say this is a great deal on many levels, first simply we now offer their products to our existing channel partners, they love it, they have a relationship with us but they now get to sell more things so more opportunities for customers to sell and make a profit. Second, we’ve already engaged with Memopal’s customer base and we’re confident there are great prospects to further expand our channel partner network for example we’re hopeful that we’ll soon be selling in Turkey which is the base for their largest customer. Third, we get a great team of experienced technologists, 10 people in total, and we’ve not had to pay any of the recruitment fees which can be quite high in this industry, it’s an excellent base for which to expand the business. Finally we’ve believe the acquisition structure will result in earning enhancing growth from 2017 plus some modest sales and cost images so we think it’s a good deal all round.
Q3: Now you touched on expanding the business, can we expect further acquisitions in the future for Defenx Plc?
A3: Well, on the one hand we’ve been very pleasantly surprised by how many businesses have approached us since IPO, lots are potentially interesting and potentially could add value, however we set some very high bars to making sure that it is actually good for the business but we’re going to be able to integrate and work with the people as well as generate some good financial and some good numbers. So I’m not convinced they’ll be anything in the short term but we’re certainly looking out there to continue to grow the business and really look at things which enhance our IP or expand the strategy and do what we already said to investors we’re going to do so nothing on the horizon at the moment.
