Tavistock agrees to acquire asset research firm Hummingbird

Tavistock Investments has agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of LEBC Hummingbird, it announced on Monday, for £3m in cash.

The AIM-traded firm described Hummingbird as an unregulated business that provides research on the asset-class allocations to be used within funds and model portfolios.

Its service was designed to help investment managers match their investment solutions with the differing risk profiles identified through the use of ‘attitude to risk’ questionnaires completed by clients.

Tavistock agreed to acquire Hummingbird from LEBC Group, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, for total cash consideration of £3m.

It said £1.5m would be paid on completion, and £1.5m would be paid on 30 November.

Hummingbird launched in 2020 as a provider of financial research for the LEBC Group, with its audited accounts for the year ended 30 September showing gross revenues of £0.61m, profit before tax of £0.43m, and gross assets of £0.13m.

The company said the acquisition followed its announcement on 3 May that it had completed the purchase of 21% of the issued share capital of Hummingbird's ultimate parent company, LEBC Holdings, of which LEBC Group is a subsidiary.

“We are pleased to welcome Hummingbird into the Tavistock Investments group and look forward to working with [LEBC managing director] Derek Miles and his team as we extend our commercial partnership,” said chief executive Brian Raven.

At 1340 BST, shares in Tavistock Investments were up 12.62% at 6.17p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.