CANTERBURY-based HR solutions provider Select Software UK has been sold for an undisclosed sum to the Access Technology Group in a deal overseen by BCMS Corporate
Founded in the cathedral city over a decade ago by MD Julian Kirkness, Select Software specialises in software for human resources and customer relationship management departments.
Julian Kirkness wanted to leave the business and instructed corporate finance company BCMS Corporate to find a suitable buyer for Select, which employs some 35 people nationwide.Essex-based Access Technology Group, a business and accounting solutions provider, plans to market both companies’ suites of products to their respective clients.
Julian Kirkness said: "When I decided to exit the business I was determined that the buyer would need to add real value and I believe the Access Technology Group will do exactly that.”
Lynda Sharp, spokeswoman for Berkshire-based BCMS, said: “There are real synergies between both businesses and I am confident that they will continue to excel in their respective fields moving forward.”
Her company was recently named ‘Best UK Family Business’ (£5m - £25m turnover) at the Coutts Bank annual business awards.
SPITFIRES – Kent County Cricket Club’s limited overs team – is one of 18 first class cricket counties joining a new domestic 40-over competition sponsored by Clydesdale Bank.
The three-year deal for the Clydesdale Bank 40 follows up on the bank’s support for the domestic Twenty20 competition between 2005 and 2009.
Apart from familiar county rivals, the Spitfires will also be pitted against sides representing Scotland and Holland plus an ECB Recreational XI, leading to a final at Lord’s on Saturday 18 September, 2010.
Clydesdale’s southern regional director Adrian Wenn said: “The 40-over competition has been adapted this year to further increase its appeal and it is exciting for Clydesdale Bank to be part of cricket’s further development in the UK.
“As well as traditional cricket fans, we hope that the new supporters who have taken to the Twenty20 game will join us in supporting the Clydesdale Bank 40.”
SOME of the biggest names in the security industry attended Ward Security’s third Annual Employee Awards Dinner.
Guest of honour was Baroness Ruth Henig CBE, chairman of the Security Industry Authority, along with Security Watchdog chairman Terry O’Neil, chief exhibitor of the Crown Jewels Keith Hanson and more than 100 staff and clients of the Rochester-based security company.
The event was held at Oakwood House, Maidstone, Kent, where guests also enjoyed a speech by Moira Cameron, the first ever female yeoman warder or ‘Beefeater’ at the Tower of London and charged with protecting the Crown Jewels.
But Ward Security employees honoured on the night were judged the real ‘jewels’ after going beyond the call of duty in providing security services to Ward clients
Employee of the Year was Peter Smith, a long-standing security officer, who picked up his engraved trophy along with £1,000 of holiday vouchers.
The company itself also picked up the Security Watchdog Silver Fox Award 2009 for audited customer service.
Demelza Hospice Care for Children vice president, broadcaster and journalist Martyn Lewis is to present the charity’s annual business awards, which recognise the hard work of its corporate supporters.
The event will be held at the Marriott Tudor Park Hotel in Maidstone on Friday 5 March.
Demelza runs an eight-bed hospice at Sittingbourne and a new six-bed site at Eltham, providing short break care, day care, symptom control, end-of-life care and bereavement support.