Portfolio
Nature of Business
Q-Matic is the world’s leading provider of electronic queue and customer flow management solutions. The company was established in 1981 by a Swedish entrepreneur who invented ‘Customer Flow Management’, the system which is now an established global queue process. Today the company operates globally and has 51,000 systems installed worldwide, with the result that more than a quarter of the world's population pass through its systems.
Investment Overview
We bought a majority stake in Q-Matic in 2004, having been introduced to the business via a competitive auction. We had followed the company for some time leading up to our investment due to its clear market-leadership and potential for international growth.
We introduced Jan Stenberg as Chairman and Staffan Simberg as NXD - both highly experienced industrialists who worked closely with new CEO, Åke Stråberg, appointed in 2005, to drive growth and profitability.
We worked closely with the management team to review operations and initiate a change in the business to a more efficient market-driven organisation. This was followed up with significantly increased R&D, new product plans, recruitment of more sales people in the US and new management in France.
We were also able to leverage our European network in reviewing potential acquisitions in the UK, Italy and Spain. Our Asian network enabled management to review the market opportunity in India.
Operating profit increased by 100% during our ownership and we successfully sold the business in 2007.