M & A Rainmaker

In 2009 we sold 5i Limited to what became 365iT plc ( formerly Impera plc ) which is run by Peter MacLean, who helped build Guardian iT into a £110m business.

I originally invested in 5i Limited in around 2002 when finance would have been virtually impossible to raise for a Hi-tech start-up of this nature.

The original investment period was 3-5 years but I gave 5i’s management until 2009 to produce a return on my investment.

So, post the sale of 5i Limited to 365iT, what has happened ?? What does the future look like ??

365iT is pursuing a buy and build strategy – looking for suitable, complementary hi-tech companies to add to it’s portfolio. It has raised funds from e.g. LMS Capital, the South East Growth Fund and Sussex Place Ventures.

It bought 7 Global from LMS Capital and also acquired Fox I.T. last year.

I will be posting a series of blogs on the post sale performance and my recommendations to other companies that are considering becoming part of 365iT.

Yesterday I was at my pub, The Glan yr Afon Inn in North Wales, for the review of our sales over the Christmas and New Year period.

I was online using the BT OpenZone connection that we have in the pub when I heard the manager Ian guiding in some visitors ( if you follow your Satnav rigidly to CH8 8HE you just end up going up and down the A55 forever ! ). A couple eventually arrived with a young black labrador ( who was equally welcomed in ) and explained that they were travelling from Holyhead to London had been delayed between Holywell and Holyhead ( it looked as though there was an accident or something ) and had phoned thier son and asked him to find them a place to eat using the Internet somewhere near Holywell. He had found The Glan.

This was not a surprise as we come up on many different, relevant Internet searches eg

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=pubs+in+ch8&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=pubs+near+holywell&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=restaurants+near+holywell&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=

and we do so via Google maps and various other natural listings e.g. via our website itself ( which has been SEO’d to some extent ) and pub directories and social networks.

Also we now have about 40 reviews online some of which are fantastic like this one

The Glan Yr Afon Inn, Holywell‎

By Young couple – 11 Aug 2009

Positive: Wonderful reception when we finally arrived (not until midnight!!), friendly and helpful staff. Lovely location and peaceful. One of the best places that we have stayed. …‎

www.booking.com/hotel/gb/the-glan-yr-afon-inn.en.html?…

so in many ways we expect to be found by people searching the .net but there is still great satisfaction in doing so.

When people register to stay with us we ask then how they heard of us so we know that we get a lot of people from the Internet.

The Booking.com website is a particularly useful source of customers for us

http://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/the-glan-yr-afon-inn.en.html?aid=307415;tab=4

and we registered with this booking site after a global review of what websites came up when people tried to find eg bed and breakfast in Holywell from a foreign country like the USA.

We do use more traditional forms of marketing like advertising ( in local papers and magazines ) and we have particular success with postcards that we give away in the pub and are sent to people all over the world. We put up posters regarding events that we hold.

We also have a database of customers that we have collected over the years and we use this to send email and snailmail shots out. Here’s our latest newsletter which we send out by mail, post and have available in the pub:

http://www.glanyrafoninn.co.uk/Mailshot/Glan-xmas09.html

We also have video’s on the Internet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1YGFgQHsno

an online historical society

http://www.ecademy.com/module.php?mod=club&c=5300

a blogsite

http://glanyrafoninn.wordpress.com/

a Twitter page ( with 494 followers )

http://twitter.com/GlanYrAfon

and a Facebook page ( with 152 members )

http://www.facebook.com/chris.windley?ref=name#/group.php?gid=25701627254&ref=ts

The historical society page, blogsite, Twitter page and Facebook page all need regularly updating with fresh news and pictures.