Australian software company Reckon, which bought SmartVault in January 2016, wants to spin off its document management business. The new company would be responsible for both SmartVault and Reckon's previous document management line, Virtual Cabinet. The products represent about 15 percent of Reckon's annual revenue.
"We have grappled with the basic problem that the sum of the parts of our businesses is greater than the current value," Reckon CEO Clive Rabie said in a prepared statement.
Reckon's financial reports say SmartVault has exceeded expectations. The company also plans to eventually merge the two document management products.
For the year ended December 31, document management revenue was about $11.4 million, an increase of 51.9 percent over 2015. Reckon says it has more than 51,000 customers.
Reckon has two other business segments: business and practice management. The latter serves accountants in Australia and New Zealand. The business area includes Reckon One, the company's low-cost, cloud accounting package, which is sold in the Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Reckon would raise funds for the new company before the launch. The new company would trade on the AIM Market on London stock exchange. Reckon says one reason for the selection is 85 percent of document management revenue comes from outside of Australia.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind