Technology

Posted on August 27, 2019 by staff

Twins complete MBO of family business

Technology

Twin brothers Andy and Chris McLaughlin have kept it in the family by buying MIS Group from their father Stewart McLaughlin.

The Cheshire-based group, which has a turnover of £9.2m and employs 92 staff, includes housing management software vendor MIS-AMS and MIS Emergency Systems, one of the UK’s primary suppliers of ambulance command control systems.

The MBO was completed by means of a four-year deferred consideration for a near eight-figure sum.

Andy McLaughlin, group finance director of  MIS Group, said: “It’s very much business as usual – I joined the group 18 months ago as FD and Chris has been managing director of MIS-AMS for the past five years where he has grown revenues 47 per cent in that time, putting processes in place for growth and expanding the workforce by 60 per cent.

“There will be no change to the group structure – we are in excellent shape with plans for further growth to over 100 employees before the year is out and future expansion plans entailing investment into the local area and more jobs in the coming year.”

Before joining the family-run firm Andy held senior roles at Capita and Canon while his brother began at PwC as a project manager managing IT projects and setting up a global application.

The 37-year-old brothers have launched a third company called Incline-IT. The IT managed service business will complement MIS-AMS’s ActiveH housing management software (HMS) which is purchased primarily by UK housing authorities to manage their tenants and estates.

Chris McLaughlin, managing director of MIS-AMS, said: “Many of MIS-AMS’s housing association customers tell us that they’re increasingly looking for ways to outsource the hosting of their HMS to become more efficient and reduce costs.

“MIS-AMS manages many of the UK’s housing associations’ core software product – ActiveH, so it’s a natural step for Incline-IT to manage their IT estates more widely. It will provide a way to remove the cost and headache of hosting systems for many of our existing customers and it makes sense to bring it to life now.”

The existing businesses have grown since their launch by Stewart McLaughlin in 1981 to the point where they are both market leaders in ambulance command and control systems (MIS Emergency Systems) and the housing systems market (MIS-AMS).

He retired from the daily workings of the business in April 2019 but remains in his role as chairman.