365 Agile becomes shell company

Back-office systems provider 365 Agile Group announced its unaudited results for the six months to 30 June on Tuesday, just over a year after the company completed the acquisition of 365 Agile Limited in a reverse takeover under the AIM Rules on 21 August 2015.

At that time, the company said its focus was on the sale of software to provide field based workers access to traditional back office systems on smart phones or tablets.

Additionally, through its Wireless Things subsidiary, the group intended to exploit opportunities more widely in the Internet of Things sector, leading to the November 2015 acquisition of smart internet-based heating and hot water controller firm Easytherm.

In April 2016, 365 Agile announced the departure of the chief executive officer and a new licence agreement with Castleton Technology for the provision of 365 Agile's software solutions to the social housing sector on an exclusive basis.

The agreement guaranteed 365 Agile minimum payments totalling at least £1.8m over a three-year period, with certain staff transferring to Castleton from 365 Agile as part of the deal.

On 22 August, the company announced that following a reassessment of its strategy to develop a meaningful business in the IoT space, the board did not believe the continued investment of the income from the Castleton agreement into its Nottingham-based operations, trading under the Wireless Things name, would result in Wireless Things becoming core to the group's future plans.

That was formally confirmed on 26 August and accordingly Wireless Things was closed and all staff were made redundant.

Additionally, the board took the strategic decision that it would not invest further in the technology acquired from Easytherm.

Following the closure of Wireless Things, 365 Agile is now deemed to be an AIM Rule 15 cash shell, and has six months to make an acquisition or acquisitions which constitute a reverse takeover under Rule 14 of the AIM Rules or otherwise seek readmission as an investing company with the attendant requirement to raise at least £6m on or immediately before a readmission.

The company continued to own the intellectual property to the 365 Agile suite of software solutions, with the income from the Castleton agreement covering the company's day-to-day costs but unlikely to be sufficient to fund any material acquisitions.

On the financial side of things, 365 Agile said as a result of the licence agreement with Castleton, revenue for the six months to 30 June 2016 was £2m - up from £0.9m a year earlier.

“We are continuing to evaluate potential acquisition targets in the technology sector, and look forward to updating shareholders in due course,” the company’s board said in a statement.