Earlier this month, SkillSoft (NASDAQ:SKIL) closed its $270 million deal to purchase NETg from Thomson (NYSE:TOC). While the deal should help boost growth and make SkillSoft more competitive, there are lots of complexities, and investors shouldn't expect tangible results until next year.
SkillSoft develops eLearning software for topics such as leadership, regulatory compliance, and IT skills. Some of its customers include Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO), IBM (NYSE:IBM), and Merck (NYSE:MRK).
On Friday, SkillSoft reported that Q1 revenue increased 5% to $57.1 million and net income rose 85% to $7.5 million, or $0.07 per share. There was traction from its $4.5 million acquisition of Leadership Development Channel in February. There was also a nice $900,000 increase in billings.
The Leadership Development Channel division has a library of more than 450 videos from CEOs and management gurus like Stephen Covey, Tom Peters, and Ken Blanchard. The content is even available on Apple's iPod and Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry devices. With the huge success of Google's YouTube, it should be no surprise that video is becoming standard fare for Corporate America.
The deal for NETg also has lots of promise. SkillSoft has picked up more than 1,000 course titles and now has a customer base in excess of 3,000 organizations. Both companies also use a subscription-based revenue model. Yet there are big integration challenges. SkillSoft expects to cut about 400 employees, get rid of some low-margin divisions, and integrate disparate technology platforms.
In the highly competitive world of enterprise software, it's tough to grow operations. As seen with companies like Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), the mergers and acquisitions route is becoming a smart way to find growth. Yet it takes time and has its challenges. This will certainly be the case for the NETg deal, and SkillSoft will not even provide guidance until Q2. So in the meantime, it's probably best for investors to get some visibility into the company's prospects before dipping into the stock.
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Fool contributor Tom Taulli, author of The Complete M&A Handbook, does not own shares mentioned in this article. He is ranked 2,817 out of 29,306 rated investors in Motley Fool CAPS.
