Nzbased Xero Denmarkbased: NZ-based Xero, provider of accounting software for small businesses, will acquire Denmark-based workforce management platform Planday in a deal worth €183.5M.
Xero is set to purchase more than just accounting software with the acquisition of Planday; it will get access to an award winning and broadly used employee scheduling system as well. The deal is worth about $253 million ($NZD 261 million). Planday was founded in 2010 and is a cloud-based small business workforce management software. Its solution is used by a large number of companies across the world including UK-based sandwich chain Pret A Manger.
Xero will acquire all shares of Planday for €183.5 million ($NZD 253 million). In addition, Planday founders Gregor Vad Nielsen and Mikkel Svane will receive about €20M ($NZD 25.5M) in share options, according to the release .
Alfred Lin, the managing director of Xero, said: “We’re always looking to listen to our customers and acquire innovative products that solve real business problems. Planday is a perfect match for Xero accounting software and its team are going to be great additions.”
The deal is expected to be completed by the end of calendar year 2017. The acquisition will also provide Xero an opportunity to expand its international presence into Europe. It will also help the company add Danish language functionality to its product suite.
Xero currently has more than 2 million customers in over 160 countries and territories (including New Zealand, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom). This year it has acquired three companies: Invoice2go (US), QuikBooks (US) and Bench.co.uk (UK). It has also acquired a 33 percent stake in a Chinese e-commerce tax filing software vendor for about $6M last week.
Planday’s solution, which is cloud-based, will be integrated into Xero’s software suite. The company’s workforce management software is easy to use and can collect timesheets and create schedules for staff. It was designed to allow small business owners to manage staff and their scheduling process in one place. This will allow users to integrate schedules into a work flow that can be used to fulfil customer orders or even invoicing.
Planday’s software works directly with Xero accounting software. Users will be able to log in and connect the two applications using an API key with a single click. Planday’s entire team will join Xero and will be based in Copenhagen, Copenhagen. The company was previously a member of Rocket Internet’s “Scale-up” program , which is a global program that aims to accelerate growth and help founders build successful companies.
Xero is set to report its full year earnings on the 2nd of August. The company’s shares are trading at $9.80 apiece, up 1 percent on the day and down -3 percent over the past one month.
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