Halma acquires baby delivery technology firm PeriGen

The FTSE 100 company said PeriGen develops software to protect mothers and their unborn children by alerting doctors, midwives and nurses to potential problems during childbirth.

Its technology used artificial intelligence to provide an automated early warning platform during labour, enabling healthcare professionals to assess complex data more easily, and allowing them to spend more time on direct patient care.

The cash consideration for PeriGen was $58m on a cash and debt free basis, which was being funded from Halma's existing facilities.

PeriGen's unaudited revenue for the year ended 31 March totalled about $20m, with return on sales “slightly above” Halma's target range of between 18% and 22%.

“We are excited by the opportunities offered by PeriGen's digital technology in helping clinicians protect the health of mothers and babies during childbirth, while achieving better clinical outcomes in the increasing proportion of complex births,” said group chief executive officer Andrew Williams.

“PeriGen is highly aligned with our purpose, broadens our presence in patient assessment and monitoring into the US perinatal care market, and further extends our artificial intelligence and analytics capabilities.”