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City centre Manchester-based Intuita, which is recognised as a market leader in servicing the business application needs of the UK’s leading construction companies, has undergone a management buy-out.
The successful sales-led software company is dedicated to servicing the UK construction industry through its Unison Construction product – a specific UK construction industry Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application. Its key differentiator is its fully integrated support for the project based commercial operations of its clients, not just the back-office financials.
Some of the top 10 UK construction companies manage their entire business on Intuita software with household name clients including Wates, Skanska and Bovis Homes.
Intuita’s strengths will enable the company to use itself as a vehicle to drive consolidation in the market and acquire suitable companies to achieve its expansion plans. The construction software market is extremely fragmented and the opportunity exists for Intuita to achieve the position of market leader for this sector.
Leading the MBO team is Richard Beaton (46) who has a track record of success in creating and growing sales-led IT software and services businesses. Beaton is chairman of Crewe-based Boldon James, a provider of messaging and connectivity software, which underwent an MBO in June this year. He is also chairman of the Montagu-backed Micro Librarian Systems. Known as a serial entrepreneur, Beaton is viewed as the natural choice to lead this consolidation.
Richard Beaton, chief executive officer said; “2005 has resulted in the development of a strategic plan to grow the business and acquire other construction software vendors. The construction market is a vibrant part of the UK economy and our sector is extremely fragmented with many small players and no dominant player. There are considerable opportunities for intuita to grow organically and also to lead a major consolidation by acquiring companies to enhance our offering to our clients.”
Advising the MBO team was Clearwater Corporate Finance, led by partner Carl Houghton and director Jane Mercer. In a key career move for Jane Mercer, she is now joining Intuita as their finance director after nearly six years with Clearwater.
Bank of Scotland are funding the MBO with Peter Smith leading the deal.
Intuita was originally founded in 1985 as SAM Systems, a supplier to accounting and distribution systems. In 2001 an MBO was undertaken from Anite plc led by Richard Beaton. Intuita then acquired the Unisys Construction practice from Unisys to bring on board the CONAX and Prospero product sets.
The cutting edge Intuita product was launched in 2003 following 1,400 man-days of development investment. In 2004 Unison fulfil was released following substantial investment. This was followed by Unison fulfil (Intuita’s distribution business) being sold to Infor to leave a standalone construction business.
Based in Churchgate House, Oxford Street in Manchester, Intuita employs 25 staff and currently has a turnover approaching £3 million. In the last two years the company has been very successful in attracting new business including Erith Construction, SDC Construction and Peter Walker.
Commenting on her new role at Intuita and the deal, Jane Mercer added; “This is a great career move for me. Intuita are poised to enter into a new and exciting phase of their development and I’m looking forward to playing a valuable role in this.”
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