Under the terms of the deal, Cirencester, UK-based Tribal will pay up to 14 million pounds ($25.3 million) in cash and shares for a 79.8% stake in Strategic Information Technology Services Group (SITS), of which 11 million pounds ($19.9 million) will be upfront with 2.8 million pounds ($5.07 million) being paid depending on the company achieving certain performance targets between now and March 2005.
A further 200,000 pounds ($362,000) could be paid following agreement on the company’s corporate tax position for the year ending November 30, 2004.
Hessle, UK-based SITS, which employs 72 staff at offices in Hull and Stirling, provides student administration software and services to some 100 UK higher education institutions. The company will be pooled into Tribal’s IT division Tribal Technology, which provides IT services to the UK’s further education colleges and local education authorities.
In its year to March 31, 2004, Tribal reported a loss after tax of 900,000 pounds ($1.63 million), compared to a profit of 3.1 million pounds ($5.61 million) in 2003, on revenue that grew 76% to 185.7 million pounds ($336.2 million), of which 18% was organic growth.
