Axida was jointly owned by Wayne Holgate and Len Robinson. This share purchase coincides with Robinson’s retirement. Holgate will retain a large part of his existing shareholding and is ‘fully committed’ to working with Paragon and continuing to head up the Axida business.
The acquisition includes Paragon HDS, which is a Paragon-Axida product integrating multi-channel order management with continuous route optimisation.
Effective immediately, Axida will now be known as “Axida – a Paragon group company”. Paragon and Axida will continue to operate as individual businesses, with Paragon in Dorking and Axida remaining in Hull.
Axida and Paragon already have a successful joint home delivery product in Paragon HDS, and Paragon is also integrated with Axida’s full HDi product. The two companies have a number of joint clients, including Argos, Dreams, Wickes, Wincanton, Indesit and IKEA.
‘We have worked in partnership with Paragon for many years, and the combining of our expertise and resources makes perfect sense,’ said Axida’s Wayne Holgate.
‘There will be significant benefits to our respective customers as there will now be a single supplier for their systems. With future developments, implementation and support being coordinated under one company, it will help consolidate our lead in the home delivery market.’
‘Overall this represents a very exciting opportunity for both Axida and Paragon, and will enable us to really build our presence in the fast growing home delivery sector,’ added William Salter, managing director of Paragon.
‘The deal also affords us the opportunity to sell Axida’s new proof-of-delivery software product, called fleXipod, to our large client base.’
Salter, along with Paragon’s Glyn Royles (sales director & chief operating officer) and Graham Cooper (financial controller), will join Holgate on the Axida board, and the existing Axida management team and staff will remain unchanged.