‘Patient capital’ investor BGF has acquired a significant minority stake in Dublin security company Action24 in exchange for an investment of €3.6m.
Action24 was founded by Derek Mooney in 1981, with business partner Pat Maloney coming on board in 1991. Mooney’s son Aaron Mooney is now chief executive and the company says it has c.13,000 customers across the country.
According to Action24, it provides the most technologically advanced electronic security systems, using software from Alarm.com as the backbone of its monitoring service. The company operates from Sandyford, Co Dublin.
Financier Conor Sheahan is joining Action24’s board as chairman, and will invest in the business alongside BGF. Sheahan has form in mentoring growing businesses, including with Learnosity and Accelerated Payments. Also joining the board will be Mark Sykes of BGF, along with BGF’s Jack O’Kelly as a board observer.
Aaron Mooney said: “BGF have shared our vision for the business from our first interactions, and we are very pleased to be bringing them on board. This investment will help support Action24 on our next exciting phase of growth."
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Operating company Action Alarms Ltd had net current liabilities of €1.1m in August 2019, according to filed accounts. Financial year-end cash amounted to €700. Total liabilities were €2.7m and net worth was €580,000. Year-end trade debtors of €805,000 were 40% higher than a year earlier.
Annual staff costs increased from €1.2m to €1.7m in 2018/19 as the company headcount expanded from 29 to 34 people. The company’s owned property in Sandyford is valued at €2.1m.
BGF Ireland head Leo Casey added: “This is another excellent Irish business which is looking well beyond Covid-19, and we are happy to support their ambitious growth plans. We are patient, long-term investors so the key for us is having confidence that the existing shareholders and management of the businesses we are investing in have the plans and the skill set to achieve their ambitions; this is certainly the case with Action24.
“We remain very confident about the Irish market, as evidenced by this and our other recent transactions, and we look forward to investing in more ambitious Irish companies over the course of this year.”
Fieldfisher (legal) and Mazars (financial) acted for BGF. Action24 was advised by CKS Finance (financial) and Bohan Solicitors (legal).
The investors in BGF in Ireland are the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank. BGF makes equity investments in companies, typically from €1 to €10m.
Action24 supplies both business and domestic customers. According to the company, its systems dispense with bulky control boxes and plastic buttons in favour of a slim touchscreen pad, it offers an advanced video/audio doorbell, and a smartphone app allows remote control as well as providing alerts to such events as leaving a window open, even when the alarm is not set.
Photo (l-r): Mark Sykes, Derek Mooney, Aaron Mooney and Pat Maloney. (Pix: Chris Bellew / Fennell Photography)
