Lyceum Capital

Access

Business

Access is a software developer that sells its own range of business application tools and provides associated consultancy to UK headquartered mid-market companies.
The company is well known for market leading applications in finance, HR and payroll, business intelligence, supply chain and warehousing which are deployed in the cloud, in a hosted environment and on-premise.

Established in 1991, Access employs over 450 people and serves a 10,000 -strong customer base including Marks & Spencer, the Bank of England, Topps Tiles, the National Museum of Science and Industry, Birmingham Airport, Eddie Stobart, Leicester Tigers and the BVCA.

The business has grown rapidly in recent years and enjoys revenues of nearly £40 million and EBITDA margins of over 20%. In recent years, Access has won various industry awards including Accountancy Age’s Software package of year and the Sift Media Software Satisfaction award, and has been included in The Sunday Times Buyout Track 100, The Sunday Times Profit Track 100t, and The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For.

Market

The UK software sector enjoys favorable long-term growth prospects with the supply of business application software and services to the UK mid-market still highly fragmented. Lyceum Capital’s market mapping exercise identified Access UK as a well-positioned and high quality business with good long-term growth prospects.

Strategy

Lyceum Capital invested alongside Access’ existing management and introduced two highly experienced software managers to supplement the MBO team — joining as Executive Chairman and NXD. The business is executing a growth strategy which includes: