A company that supplies card payment equipment has been bought by its management team.
Secure Retail, which has clients all over the world, has been bought by the senior team with backing from º£½ÇÊÓÆµ investor NVM Private Equity.
Secure Retail sells chip and pin payment equipment for shops, taxis and customers in the hospitality sector, including chip and pin machines, stands, receipt paper and even bank note validators.
It is based in Coalville, north west Leicestershire.
The level of investment has not been disclosed.
Latest results for Secure Retail Limited, for the year to April 2018, showed turnover was £13.7 million, down from £16.8 million the previous year.
Pre-tax profits were £330,000, down from £1.1 million. There were around 60 staff.
The company supplies a range of customers from national chains to sole traders, selling its products directly or through partners.
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The annual results said: “Industry growth continues to be driven by the long-term move towards electronic payment transactions rather than cash or cheques; increasing mobility of payment systems; contactless payments; self-service payment systems and continued reduction on fraud and identity theft.”
Secure Retail managing director David Russell said: “Secure Retail is delighted to be partnering with NVM.
“From our very first meeting it was clear that NVM had the appetite and understanding to add considerable weight to the exciting product strategy being delivered by the Secure Retail team.
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“The next phase of payment security will undoubtedly create the potential for significant growth in software, hardware and support services.
“Secure Retail supported by NVM is well placed to capitalise on this opportunity”.
NVM Private Equity is an independently owned investor in unquoted º£½ÇÊÓÆµ businesses that have the “right mix of growth potential and market vision”.
It provides sums ranging from £1 million to £15 million for companies “looking to grow organically, acquire another business or secure a management buy-out”.
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In a statement NVM said Secure Retail was founded by chief executive Carl Barton and offered comprehensive market coverage and highly tailored solutions to its customers.
It said that in 2016, card transactions exceeded half of all payments with payment devices having a three-to-five year replacement cycle.
James Arrowsmith, Andy Leach and Liam May led the investment for NVM, with the latter two joining the Secure board at completion.
Andy Leach said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Carl, David and rest of Secure’s highly experienced management team to take the business forward through the next period of its growth.
“The payments market is necessarily becoming more complex and specialised given heightened regulatory and security considerations, coupled with increasing demands from consumers for speed and flexibility.
“The expertise that Secure has built over the past 15-plus years will be of considerable value in such a dynamic market.”