Listing the road to further acquisitions says CSM boss

Stan Beer
Friday, 03 December 2004 07:25

IT Industry - Development

The boss of systems integrator and education software developer, CSM Group Limited, David Knowles, has indicated that there is currently just one way forward for the company – to list in 2005.

According to Knowles, the currently unlisted public company owes an ASX listing to the company’s 70 shareholders who have waited patiently for five years while the company has built itself into business suitable for listing.

Last week, CSM announced a merger with e-learning software provider myinternet Limited (MYI), which, according to Knowles, has created a dominant education technology player in Australia with annual revenues of $30 million. CSM currently manages the technology platform environment for all government and non-government schools across the Northern Territory and has won major business with the public school system in South Australia. MYI has its e-learning platform installed in the UK, NZ, PNG and Hong Kong, and is expanding into South Africa and North America.

“As much as one can decorate the future in advance, the absolute goal starts with the term education,” says Knowles. “The focus of the company is going to be to facilitate the education experience across the spectrum. We are a supplier of technology solutions, whatever the platform and the MYI software layers across that.”

Knowles admits that CSM is currently in discussions with a number of parties regarding a planned IPO but will not commit to a specific time, other than to say it will most likely happen in 2005. He says, “We are having all the conversations you would expect. We don’t have to list but we think it’s a good proposition, although the market is pretty scary at the moment. We’re serious about doing further acquisitions and it’s easier to do that in a listed environment.”

Knowles says future acquisitions are planned of companies in the education space, including companies involved in e-learning and publishing. CSM, which currently has 190 staff, spread across Victoria, Northern Territory and South Australia, expects to consolidate with modest growth this year. “However, you can expect pretty serious growth in the next financial year,” he says.