The Information Lab – A Cross-Border Case Study

The Information Lab is market leading supplier of software licences and provider of consultancy and support services for its software. The company has grown over the last five years organically and by acquisition and now has a presence in the UK, Germany, Australia and the USA. In addition, the company has strategic partnerships and licenses to provide support to other software providers in Europe.

The Information Lab became a client of ECOVIS part way through its growth journey in 2017 having established that they needed a partner to support them with their growth ambitions in the UK and overseas.

When moving to ECOVIS, I was looking to partner with a team that could grow as we did. We have since grown five times in the UK and replicated our business into ten other countries and Ecovis have been with us at every step of the way. They have restructured the businesses, provided advice as we move internationally and introduced us to their global partner network to provide tailored, local support.

Tom Brown – Owner and Managing Director

Since becoming a client, ECOVIS has supported the company in a number of areas:

• Helping the company to prepare for and go through statutory financial audits which were performed by ECOVIS;
• Providing the company with due diligence, tax, legal and structuring support for its acquisition of a German company operating in the same sector. This support was provided by a team of experts from ECOVIS’ corporate finance, tax and legal departments in the UK and Germany;
• Helping the company to establish a subsidiary in the USA with advice provided by ECOVIS’ UK and US tax and legal teams;
• Helping the company to structure a strategic partnership and 20% interest in a newly formed Australian company. Tax and legal advice were provided by ECOVIS’ tax and legal teams in the UK and Australia;
• Reorganising the group to align the operating and legal structures and manage risk with the requisite tax efficiency;
• Supporting the company to implement a global share incentives scheme;
• Advising the company and its shareholders on efficient cash extraction from the company;
• Acting as a sounding board on a range of strategic, operational and business matters.

We are now on a journey to conquer America and once again ECOVIS have facilitated the appropriate introductions and provide umbrella advice for the whole group. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to others, something I have done a number of times.

Tom Brown – Owner and Managing Director