Access Group

Business

Established in 1991, Access Group is a software developer selling business application tools and related services to UK mid-sized companies.

At the time of Lyceum’s investment in 2011, the company, which employed over 450 people and served over 3,000 customers, producing applications for finance, HR and payroll and supply chain. The software was deployed principally on premise.

At the time of Lyceum’s divestment in 2014, Access employed over 750 people and services over 6,000 customers providing applications with more extensive functionality including Business Intelligence, CRM, a full suite of HR and logistics solutions.

Market

The UK software sector enjoys strong long-term growth prospects, with the supply of business application software and services to the UK mid-market still highly fragmented.

Strategy

Lyceum Capital invested alongside Access’s existing management and introduced a highly experienced Executive Chairman and Non-Executive Director to the MBO team. The company’s growth strategy included:

• Acquiring key players in its reseller channel to strengthen its routes to market
• Growing the product portfolio through in-house development and targeted acquisitions
• Entering new vertical industries organically and through acquisitions
• Investing in hosted, cloud and software as a service (SaaS) capabilities

Developments

With our support Access Group:

• More than doubled total revenues to over £60m
• Grown EBITDA threefold
• Seen organic revenue growth rates average 12% annually

“Following Lyceum’s investment, Access underwent rapid expansion, growing the breadth of its offering in different vertical markets.” Jeremy Hand, Lyceum Capital Partner and board member at Access Group