WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Oct. 19, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diligent Corporation (NZX:DIL) ("Diligent" or the "Company"), the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based platform for the secure electronic production, distribution and collaboration of confidential information for boards and leadership teams, today announced that it has acquired all assets of BoardLink, a SaaS provider of board and leadership team collaboration solutions, from Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI).
Organizations around the world are increasingly embracing the use of SaaS solutions to create, manage, and collaborate on critical business information. The acquisition of BoardLink strengthens Diligent's position as the world's leading provider of corporate governance and collaboration SaaS solutions for boards and senior executives. Diligent's acquisition of BoardLink increases the Company's presence in a large and attractive market by adding more than 250 new clients and approximately 9,000 users to Diligent's global community of executives and board members.
"We are excited to welcome the BoardLink team and clients to Diligent," said Brian Stafford, Chief Executive Officer and President of Diligent. "BoardLink brings a great team of professionals and a large, global customer base to Diligent. There is a strong alignment between our two companies and we are excited to give BoardLink's clients access to Diligent's world-class products, leading security features, and award-winning customer service. The acquisition of BoardLink aligns well with our growth strategy and provides us with a broader platform to expand and innovate from in the future."
"Thomson Reuters and Diligent share a common objective of providing high quality service to our global client base. As the world's leading provider of secure collaboration and governance solutions for boards and leadership teams, we believe that Diligent will be able to support BoardLink's clients with the investment and focus necessary for them to continue to enjoy the best service available," said Phil Cotter, managing director, Risk, Thomson Reuters.
Diligent-BoardLink Transaction Details
Commenting further on the transaction Michael J. Stanton, Diligent's Chief Financial Officer, stated, "Like Diligent, BoardLink operates an annual subscription business model with high client retention rates and great customers. These are all key contributors in building a successful SaaS business and reasons why I believe BoardLink will enhance Diligent's operating leverage. By combining the two businesses we can deliver more value to clients while enhancing growth and profitability for shareholders."
Under the terms of the agreement, Diligent paid approximately $US 10.0 million in cash for the Thomson Reuters BoardLink business. For the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2015, Diligent management expects BoardLink to contribute nominally to revenue and to be neutral, on a non-GAAP basis, to adjusted net income per share1. Diligent management expects the BoardLink acquisition to be accretive, on a non-GAAP basis, to full year 2016 adjusted net income per share. Diligent will provide more details about the acquisition and its expected impact on financial results on its third quarter 2015 earnings call which is scheduled to be held on November 10, 2015 NZDT (Monday, November 9, 2015 US ET).
District Capital Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Diligent in the transaction.
About Diligent
Diligent is the leading provider of secure corporate governance and collaboration solutions for boards and senior executives. Over 3,300 clients in more than 60 countries and on all seven continents rely on Diligent to provide secure, intuitive access to their most time-sensitive and confidential information, ultimately helping them make better decisions. The Diligent Boards (formerly Diligent Boardbooks) solution speeds and simplifies how board materials are produced, delivered and collaborated on via any device, removing the security concerns of doing this by courier, email and file sharing. Diligent is a publicly listed company (NZX:DIL) with nearly $US 100 million in annual recurring revenue, based on previously reported revenue retention rates. Visit www.diligent.com to learn more.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements made in this press release that state Diligent's or management's intentions, beliefs, expectations, or predictions for the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that these statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events or results. All forward looking-statements are only as of the date of this press release and Diligent undertakes no obligation to update or revise them. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause Diligent's actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. For example, if our new products and features do not fit with our customers' needs, our financial performance and revenue growth may suffer. Factors which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements include, without limitation, economic, competitive, regulatory and technological factors affecting Diligent Corporation's operations, markets, products, services and other factors set forth in the Company's Risk Factors included in its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 16, 2015.
1 Non-GAAP adjusted net income per share excludes stock-based compensation expense, amortization of intangibles associated with acquisitions, non-recurring professional fees associated with closing acquisitions, and the purchase accounting reduction to deferred revenue associated with acquired companies.