News

QM Group management buy-out

Advantage Capital has just completed the management buy-out of QM Group, the UK's leading provider of queue management solutions for retailers and banks.

QM was founded in the late 1980s. Today, it employs 70 people, operating from its head office just outside Milton Keynes. With revenues of £10m, it is the UK market leader in the provision of queue management systems. The company was acquired from its founders in a deal led by Alistair Agnew and Bernie Williams, two of the executive directors. David Finch has also joined the team as the new finance director. The founders have re-invested a substantial amount in the business.

The group provides a range of systems, primarily to blue-chip retailers and high street banks. One of its earlier products was the "cashier number three, please" system which it supplied to the Post Office. Today, its customer list includes Argos, Boots, Royal Bank of Scotland and Woolworths. To date over 4,000 systems have been installed, ranging from physical barriers/merchandisers to electronic (audio and visual) systems involving complex software.

"The buy-out of QM is another example of a difficult deal of real merit", said Trevor Jones and Martin Bodenham of Advantage Capital. "The UK's retail market has seen twelve years of unbroken growth but is now facing an uncertain future. When we saw the deal there was no finance director. In addition, the transaction required careful crafting, given the potentially competing objectives of re-investing founders and the buy-out managers, who were stepping up to the helm. However, the merit comes from backing a market leading business, which is growing at 35% per annum".