VMC has made its first-ever business acquisition, purchasing rival manufacturer Cardinal as part of a dynamic, progressive and forward thinking business development strategy.

Warwickshire-based VMC believe the deal will significantly strengthen its position at the forefront of the cashless payment industry, boosting its presence and market share particularly in the education and retail sectors.

However VMC is keen to stress it is very much ‘business as usual’ for existing Cardinal customers, as a seamless integration process gets underway.

Cardinal was based at Kings Langley, Hertfordshire and worked with major names such as Tesco, specialising (like VMC) in cashless technology where an electronic credit is added to ‘smart cards’ to make purchases predominantly in staff restaurants and at vending machines.

“As VMC already enjoys a respected reputation as one of the industry’s biggest players this exciting deal provides the opportunity to move the business even further forward,” explained VMC Managing Director Nick Bate.

“Cardinal’s business is a perfect fit with VMC – both companies have developed specialist cashless systems for large retailers.  Cardinal has for many years supplied cashless systems to Tesco and we are looking forward to supporting them and the rest of Cardinal’s customer base which includes a growing educational market.”

He stated: “Our aim is to expand and develop VMC’s presence in retail markets and also launch and develop a new range of solutions into the education market that builds on Cardinal’s existing expertise.

“The plan is to absorb the Cardinal sales, support and development into the existing VMC business. VMC will continue to produce and support Cardinal equipment for its customers and from 1st September all former Cardinal business activities will be located at VMC’s Southam headquarters. Cardinal will be merged with us; VMC will retain the Cardinal brand to build on their presence in the education sector.”

Mr Bate insisted that there will be few noticeable day-to-day changes for all concerned.

He pointed out: “I am very pleased to confirm that Cardinal’s management team of Denise Lathom-Sharp, Peter Bate and Cheri Gilmurray have accepted senior roles with VMC. Cardinal’s operations are moving to VMC’s headquarters but apart from this move I can assure all customers it will be business as usual.”

Southam-based VMC operates on an international stage such as America, Europe, and Australia and has recently set-up distributor operations in Ireland.

Mr Bate said the acquisition illustrates the ambitious company’s continued growth strategies enabling it to build upon an already impressive client base that features Asda, Volkswagen and Loughborough University.

He added: “These are exciting times for VMC as we combine new product developments with an expanded sales team and forge into new business markets. We view the Cardinal acquisition as an area of great potential with many opportunities for success which we are ideally placed to exploit.

“This represents a bold and visionary move supporting VMC’s commitment to investment and development in the cashless payment marketplace.”

ENDS