Dental software maker bases two top executives in Britain

Brian Weatherly

The two top executives of dental software company Software of Excellence are moving to Britain in the hunt for expansion and European acquisitions.

From next month, chief executive Brian Weatherly and chief financial officer Bryce Donnell will be based in Britain, which has a £14.5 million ($42 million) dental software market and accounts for about 80 per cent of the Auckland firm's sales.

"We're looking to sell additional products in England but that's more additional organic revenue," said Weatherly, "whereas obviously the acquisitions could be dramatic growth."

He said the company was looking at opportunities in a number of countries and was more concerned with the right deal than the location.

"You could probably do it [make acquisitions] from here, but we really feel we need to be up there in the market and really walk around and get a much deeper feeling for that. In the next year we're looking certainly to get something done."

The company's dental practice management software included 3D modelling overlaid with patient records to show elements such as fillings, missing teeth and bridges.

"Basically the role of that is education for the patient. Here's your mouth and your charting, here's how it all looks and here's what we're going to do."

The acquisition plan would involve buying both leading brands and lesser players with less sophisticated technology to build stronger order books.

Software of Excellence made a loss of $5.35 million for the year ended March 31 after restructuring and an asset writedown, although revenue grew 18.7 per cent to $24.7 million.

The forecast for net profit for the six months to September 30 was up to $2 million and organic revenue growth was expected to be about 15 per cent a year, with any acquisition providing additional expansion.

The move to Britain reflected the challenge homegrown companies faced in developing global markets, Weatherly said.

The company had no plans to move product development from its Albany head office, where the time difference with Britain presented both a challenge and an opportunity.

"When it works really well you can have a software issue in England, get it resolved overnight and New Zealand can upgrade the customer using dial-in connectivity - so it can be magical."

There were no plans to change the company's NZX listing - such as moving to the London Stock Exchange's AIM market - although an open mind would be kept.