The seemingly interminable Isoft saga moved a step closer to some sort of conclusion with news late on Wednesday that Germany’s CompuGroup would not try to better the £166m (or 69p-a-share) bid on the table from Australian software rival IBA.
So directors of Isoft, which all but imploded after the discovery of alleged accounting irregularities, threatening the British healthcare system’s flagship IT project, have now recommended the Aussie bid to shareholders.
Cue a small explosion from RJH Adams, the Capital Chronicle blogger and a long-standing (hapless) investor in Isoft.
He’s been carrying out some deep due diligence on IBA and does not like what he’s found. Here’s a Capital Chronicle taster on this week’s prelims from the Australian listed company:
There is thus an accounting black hole of 6 months…of second half financial information on the main driver – by a great distance distance – of IBA’s results. The scribe would suggest and argue that these IBA accounts do not therefore represent a true and fair presentation of the company’s performance as demanded by Australian GAAP.
IBA has missed an opportunity, for whatever reason, to bring transparency to the operations of a financial vehicle that from the outside appears to be a straightforward accounting device that inflates revenue.
So, then, long-standing Isoft shareholders should feel right at home.