IRIS Acquires Cascade to Provide a Broader Range of HR & Payroll Solutions to UK Businesses

DATCHET, England, April 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

IRIS Software Group, the UK market leader in accountancy and payroll software, is today announcing that it has agreed to acquire Cascade, a leading provider of HR and payroll solutions.

With a joint customer base of over 60,000 UK businesses, this acquisition reinforces the position of IRIS as a leading player in the provision of business critical software solutions. In particular the combined business now has a broader product set to include HR solutions alongside the IRIS payroll & KashFlow bookkeeping applications that will appeal to many UK organisations.

Founded in 1992 by Alan Jones and his fellow directors, Cascade has carefully evolved a market-leading HR suite based on robust technology, excellent client services and support. The business has grown rapidly since 2005 supporting many of the UKs leading companies with their HR and payroll needs. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The combination of IRIS and Cascade is compelling, extending the IRIS product set into an important, adjacent market and adding a business with a strong history of growth, an experienced management team and excellent customer base. In turn, IRIS provides an opportunity to underpin the success of Cascade by providing access to over 60,000 customers, many of whom will appreciate Cascade's professional HR solutions.

Alan Jones will remain as Managing Director of the Cascade Division of IRIS, alongside his fellow directors, with the mission of continuing to grow the business in line with recent performance, whilst taking advantage of the combined resources of the larger group.

Phill Robinson, Chief Executive Officer of IRIS Software Group, said:    

"Cascade's superb HR suite is an excellent fit with our payroll solutions and I am confident that it will strengthen the IRIS position - providing business critical solutions to UK SMEs. I am delighted that the Cascade team will become part of the wider IRIS Software Group, HR is a clear adjacency for our market and an area that has become increasingly complex for businesses in the past decade. Our joint goal is to make it easier for our customers." 

Alan Jones, Founder and Managing Director of Cascade said:  

"We are very excited to join forces with IRIS, which we have known and respected for many years. It's the natural next step in Cascade's evolution, allowing us access to a whole range of resources, skills and ideas as well as the extensive IRIS client base. We have a brilliant team at Cascade and they will be a huge asset to IRIS as we now move forward together." 

The corporate finance team at accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP in Yorkshire, led by M&A partner Jason Whitworth, were lead advisers to the shareholders at Cascade. Law firm Walker Morris provided legal advice.

About IRIS Software Group 

With 34 years' experience, the IRIS Software Group provides business critical software and services to the UK accountancy and SME sectors. Over 60,000 small and medium-sized companies including 15,500 accountancy practices rely on IRIS every day to run their business and collaborate, with around 93,000 end-users subscribing to IRIS cloud solutions.

IRIS offers the greatest range of specialist accountancy and payroll solutions - delivered as a choice of integrated on premise software and cloud-based applications - managed under the leading IRIS, PTP, Drummohr, KashFlow and Earnie product brands.

In accountancy, IRIS is the most trusted software provider in the UK today with over 98% customer retention for its core products, 60% of the top 50 practices as customers and 2.9 million tax returns successfully filed with HMRC each year.

As a leading provider of payroll and bookkeeping software IRIS serves SMEs, corporates, payroll bureaus and a number of industry sectors including 50% of UK GP practices. More than 10% of UK businesses pay their employees via IRIS payroll solutions.

Follow us on Twitter @irisaccountants @irispayroll @kashflow

For further information visit, http://www.iris.co.uk

About Cascade HR Ltd 

Cascade is an award-winning provider of fully integrated HR software and HMRC recognised payroll software. With proactive modules including core HR, Payroll, Training, Recruitment, Online Recruitment, Self Service, Workflow, Auto Enrolment, Timesheets and Expenses, Cascade has over 530 clients in a variety of sectors.

Cascade HR software can suit any size organisation and has the capability to adapt as human resources and payroll requirements change.