In the summer of 2020 Grafenia put a facility in place on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange to issue up to £50m of “perpetual bonds”. It issued £3m of bonds at that time to bolster cashflow and its M&A plans, followed by a further £5m of bonds in September 2022 at the time of the acquisition of ecomms specialist Vertical Plus.

The latest bonds were issued at 85% of their nominal value, and will raise around £2.72m before expenses. The bonds are non-convertible and unsecured. 

Interest will be payable at 6% per annum, annually in arrears, from July 2023. 

Acting CEO Gavin Cockerill commented: “Over the last 12 months we have invested in building the structure required for us to be a serial acquirer and permanent home for vertical market software businesses.

“The funds being raised via the bond placing are for further potential acquisitions we currently have in the pipeline. We're pleased with the ongoing progress being made with our acquisition strategy.”

Grafenia acquired document management software firm Watermark Technologies earlier this month.

Sales on its continuing software business rose by 28.5% to £8.92m in the financial year ending 31 March. 

The firm’s share price hit a 52-week high of 7.00p last month and is up 8% over the past year. Shares were at 5.4p at the time of writing. (52-week low: 3.75p).