Impero Software - ARA Advisory

Founded in 2002, Impero has become a market leader in the UK in integrated safeguarding software with its comprehensive education solution that enables schools to keep students safe, improves the teaching environment and maximises efficiency for school network managers.

Founded in 2002, Impero has become a market leader in the UK in integrated safeguarding software with its comprehensive education solution that enables schools to keep students safe, improves the teaching environment and maximises efficiency for school network managers. Headquartered in Nottingham, UK, with an office in Austin, Texas, the company has a >35% share of the UK secondary school market, serving more than 1,050 secondary schools across the country.

Globally, Impero’s software is accessed by over 2 million devices in over 80 countries, including schools in more than 700 US districts. During the course of 2018/19, the company transitioned from an on-premise solution to a cloud-based SaaS model. In December 2020, Impero signed the acquisition of Netop, a Danish headquartered education software business with a significant prescence in the US. In December 2021, the company announced the acquisition of ContentKeeper, a fast-growing provider of cybersecurity, filtering and other ed tech solutions.

Investcorp is a global investment manager, specialising in alternative investments across private equity, real estate, credit, absolute return strategies, GP stakes, infrastructure, and insurance asset management. Investcorp manages $50 billion in assets, including assets managed by 3^rd party managers. Investcorp has 14 offices in the US, Europe, GCC and Asia, including India, China, Japan and Singapore and employs approximately 500 people from 50 nationalities globally.

Services provided

Financial modelling and FP&A services supporting a new CFO during a transformation and restructuring exercise for the business. Impero experienced significant change in their permanent finance team which meant the business was experiencing strong turbulence and a lack of clarity from a finance point of view. ARA Advisory successfully partnered the interim CFO, new hire CFO, Investcorp and the wider C-suite in order to support on cashflow forecasting and the creation of the FY23 Budget.

Solution

Development of a new 13 week cashflow model and full year forecast which led to an urgent refinancing.
Working with PE owners and management to understand key cashflow challenges and implementing strategies to improve cashflow.

Creation of a new Budget and Reforecast model for the group with a focus on a path to sustainable profitability, and setting up cost centre ownership across the Group.
Professionalisation and development of new KPI and P&L reporting and analysis.

Results

Impero has successfully received an injection of debt financing, which was set up based on their ability to forecast near term and longterm cashflow requirements.
Impero has a new Budget and Reforecasting tool which enables finance and cost centre owners to update based on a bottom up detailed approach.