24 security
The way ahead for Access-IS
Following a management buyout (MBO) in October 2015 put together by Spectrum Corporate Finance, Access-IS now has a new, invigorated business plan to deliver double-digit revenue growth over the next five years. Guy-Franck Nakach, CEO of Access-IS, met with Matt Noble Wright of The Business Magazine to outline his vision for the future of Access-IS, its growth ambitions, and the importance of Reading as a business hub
A brief history of the company
Access-IS began life as Access Keyboards in 1984, manufacturing custom keyboards for UK-based customers. As the company grew and evolved, it began to develop a range of data-capture products building upon its custom keyboard knowledge.
This expansion in the business portfolio led to the renaming of the company as ‘Access-IS’ in 2007 (an abbreviation of Access Interfacing Solutions), and then in October 2015, the company underwent a management buyout led by CEO, Guy-Franck Nakach, and put together by Spectrum Corporate Finance.
Access-IS’s main focus of growth is now the design and manufacture of equipment which enables the accurate capture and fast transfer of information into electronic systems.
The future for Access-IS
Nakach says: “We find ourselves in exciting times as we are introducing a number of new products to large global markets undergoing transformational changes that require our specific know-how in image processing, barcode reading and NFC technologies.”
The company’s strategy for the growth in its data-capture products is focused on three distinct vertical segments:
1 Airline and airports – it currently supplies check-in and boarding pass readers to 36 of the world’s top 50 airports, so can be regarded as a leader in this field. “This sector saw massive growth after the security fears post-2001,” says Nakach, “and continues to be a major revenue generator for the company, although we classify this as a mature market.”
2 Identity and security – Access-IS supplies a range of governmental and non- governmental institutions
www.businessmag.co.uk
with technology such as identity document readers. “We have a range of products in development for this rapidly- growing market and are very optimistic about its growth potential,” he adds.
3 Transport and ticketing – this is a relatively new market for the company, but with great growth potential. Nakach says: “We supply a variety of products (such as NFC readers) in a wide range of geographic locations. Recent projects include Austrian Rail and the Rome Metro, and our high-tech niche specialism allows us to work happily alongside larger partners, such as Virgin Trains.
He added: “We continue to manufacture and supply custom keyboards to some to the world’s largest retailers and finance houses – this was how the company started back in 1984. Responding to customer requests to develop new functionality, such as passport swiping on our keyboards, our knowledge and capabilities grew
From left: Colin Williams, head of finance; Guy-Franck Nakach, CEO; Lorraine Hall, operations director; Nigel Bonsor, technical director; Alistair Crawford, chairman
with data capture at their core. Hence, our custom keyboards remain an important part of both our revenue and our knowledge base.”
Virgin Trains case study
We started working on the Virgin Trains project back in September 2014, helping to develop its electronic ticketing capabilities. The transportation industry is rapidly moving from a paper- based cash-collection system, but this places additional demands on the infrastructure which in turn requires specialist knowledge and input.
Access-IS supplies integrated barcode and NFC readers to the large system integrators who have been tasked with overhauling Virgin Train’s ticketing operations. As well as enabling electronic ticketing, these readers also capture a huge amount of ‘soft’ information that would otherwise have been lost under the old paper-based system; eg the demographics of who was travelling, at what time, where to, etc.
“Access-IS presents an excellent partner profile to the large system integration companies,” says Nakach. “We are not a competitor to them, but a supplier of high- tech, niche products which would be very difficult for them to produce themselves. For this reason, we can easily integrate into any large infrastructure projects.”
Five-year plan
• Target revenue growth of 10%- 15% per annum (2015: £11 million revenues)
• Continued investment in business development and sales
• Grow worldwide sales from existing Reading HQ (Access
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – APRIL 2016
IS currently derives only 15% of its revenues from UK customers, the rest being spread across the globe).
About Reading
“Reading is an ideal place for us to be,” concluded Nakach. “We’re on the M4 corridor but close to London, and with great access to universities and to the specialised labour skills we need in order to grow our business globally.
“Around one third of our staff are employed in research and development, so a high-quality labour force is essential to our business.
“Furthermore, Reading offers us the financial expertise we need to grow. We were able to construct the recent MBO deal locally, led by Spectrum Corporate Finance with funding from Mobeus Equity Partners and Barclays with legal and accountancy advice from local firms in Reading, including Blake Morgan, Osborne Clarke, James Cowper Kreston and PwC.”
Details: Access-IS
0118-9663333
sales@access-is.com www.access-is.com
Spectrum Corporate Finance 0118-9502269
info@spectrumcf.co.uk www.spectrumcf.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56