28 February 2014, London: Civica Group Limited (“Civica”), a market leader in specialist systems and business process services that help organisations transform the way they work, has announced that it has acquired health care industry software provider Coldharbour Systems Limited.

Coldharbour Systems, based in Bristol, specialises in application software and related services for the UK care sector. It is a respected provider of financial, accounting, staff and care management systems, with more than 160 customers across residential, community, nursery and health care services.

The company has continued to perform very well into its latest financial year and to win major new contracts including, among others, Orchard Care Group, the Huntercombe Group, Helen McArdle Care and Berkeley Healthcare.

The care sector continues to negotiate a period of change driven by demographic trends, financial and service constraints in the public sector, and growth and consolidation in the independent sector. The acquisition of Coldharbour extends Civica’s presence and expertise in sectors adjacent to its existing customer base while the combined product and service portfolio will enable the company to offer broader solutions to the health care sector including cloud and managed services.

Commenting, Simon Downing, chief executive of Civica said, “I am delighted to welcome Coldharbour Systems to the Group. Effective IT systems have an increasingly important role to play in delivering improved performance and efficiency in a changing sector. Coldharbour brings a market-leading product set and an excellent reputation, and the combined business is very well placed to respond to the needs of customers across the health care sector.”

Roy Proctor, managing director of Coldharbour Systems, said, “This is a very positive development for customers, partners and employees. The combination creates a stronger partner for our customers with a broader capability at an important time for the sector. We look forward to building on our joint strengths and vision in order to deliver increasing value to customers.”

The Civica Group has a successful history of acquiring and integrating businesses with complementary expertise and technology to support areas of increasing emphasis. The two companies already have a successful record of working together at major customers including The Priory, RVS and Four Seasons Healthcare, with Civica’s electronic document management software a key component of Coldharbour’s e-Compliance solution.