Freightways has extended its presence in the Australian Information Management market with the purchase of the business and assets of Filesaver, a specialist document storage, archiving and imaging business based in Penrith, New South Wales.

The purchase price of up to $A6.25 million will be paid over three years. An initial amount of $A4.4 million is payable immediately with an earnout of up to A$1.85 million being payable in September 2014 subject to the achievement of specific earnings targets. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and goodwill amortisation (EBITDA) of A$0.9 million is expected to be generated in the first 12 months of Freightways’ ownership.

Freightways’ Managing Director Dean Bracewell says “this acquisition is consistent with our strategy to develop growth opportunities that complement our existing operations on both sides of the Tasman.”

The founder of Filesaver will remain in the business to continue its growth and development as a stand-alone business alongside Freightways’ other information management brands. The business will be relocated to Freightways’ existing Sydney premises and utilise spare capacity in that site.

Mr Bracewell says that the intention is to extend the service offering of the Filesaver business beyond New South Wales to all other major states throughout Australia so as to leverage the nationwide footprint established by Freightways’ Information Management division in recent years.

At the company’s Annual Shareholders Meeting in October, Mr Bracewell announced that for the three months ending 30 September 2011 Freightways had posted an increase in EBITDA of $16.6 million, 9% above the prior corresponding period (pcp), with the Information Management division performing strongly with revenue growth 14% above the pcp.