If its £8.3 million fundraising goes according to plan, software venture Ex Libris will become the latest in an increasingly long line of Israeli ventures to launch onto AIM – although it is likely to be the only company on the market founded by librarians.
If its £8.3 million fundraising goes according to plan, software venture Ex Libris will become the latest in an increasingly long line of Israeli ventures to launch onto AIM – although it is likely to be the only company on the market founded by librarians.
The group was created back in 1983 by a team of academic employees attached to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In the intervening 22 years it has built on waves of research, development and investment to become a leading provider of software solutions to the world’s libraries.
Led by CEO Matti Shem Tov and finance director Ron Biran, the group counts four of the world’s five largest libraries amongst its customers, including the British Library.
According to a spokesperson for the company, the key to its success in recent years has been its ability to deliver products that have kept abreast with the revolutionary changes that have engulfed libraries since the birth of the internet. The increasing complexity of managing, archiving and storing all manner of books and documents in their physical and digital forms – plus the added task of enabling libraries to network effectively with research and academic institutes across the globe – has led to the leading organisations demanding increasingly sophisticated software programmes.
Ex Libris has duly delivered and, as a result, has cornered a considerable chunk of the sector. It boasts an installed base of 1,650 clients in 57 countries. In the year to December 2004, Ex Libris posted sales of $29.7 million and net profits of $2.5 million. In terms of current trading, the group has apparently ‘$32 million of visible revenues’.
Panmure Gordon is the broker leading the fundraising. If all goes according to plan, the group should start trading in early October.
