Edinburgh based, food industry risk services and compliance specialists Acoura have further strengthened their service offering through the purchase of market leading consultancy, training and e-learning experts Hygiene Audit Systems in what is described as ‘a significant seven figure deal’.
For over 25 years the St Albans based company, led by Dr Lisa Ackerley, has been offering customers a wide range of environmental health services and food safety solutions. These services include food safety advice, expert witness support, health and safety training and e-learning. Operating across the UK, key clients include John Lewis, Bourne Leisure, McMullen Pub Co and Mitchells and Butler.
Dr Lisa Ackerley, who will continue with the business as Strategic Adviser to the Acoura Board, said;
“I am really excited by the opportunity that this combination brings. The enlarged Group will be able to provide a full service offering to clients throughout the food supply chain creating a truly viable alternative for clients who, until now, have had very few providers with the scale and expertise to do so. There is a great cultural fit between the two businesses and Acoura impressed me with their innovative solutions, flexibility and customer focused approach”.
Stuart Kelly, Managing Director of Acoura’s Food Service and Hospitality division said of the move:
“HAS is a perfect fit for Acoura. Its services perfectly complement the work we are already doing and its experienced team is well respected by those working in the industry. In addition, its e-learning platform gives us another innovative tool which can help our customers across the group with flexible training and blended learning solutions.
“We’ve seen a lot of growth as a business over the last three years and additions such as HAS will let us further improve our operational capacity and allow our teams to focus on delivering the exact service offering our customers need.
The food and drink supply chain is becoming increasingly complicated and our ability to offer innovative and commercially viable risk management services from field to fork puts us in a unique position within the market – HAS only strengthens this position and I’m sure there will be a real benefit for everyone involved.”
All of HAS’s employees will be retained and will join Acoura’s existing team.
Over the coming month the Hygiene Audit System brand will be phased out as the company is further integrated into the Acoura Group.
Acoura claim the acquisition will help maintain their position as the fastest growing business of its kind operating in the UK. It also comes in the same week their specialist fisheries and aquaculture team, previously based in Inverness, have relocated to the Edinburgh office.
Submitted by Chris Hammond
