Abingdon-based Barkby Group explores sale of Cambridge Sleep Sciences

By Nicky Godding

12 September 2023

Share

The Business Magazine article image for: Abingdon-based Barkby Group explores sale of Cambridge Sleep Sciences

Barkby is exploring options to maximise shareholder value from its subsidiary, Cambridge Sleep Sciences, the science-based sleep technology business behind SleepEngine.

Barkby, which now describes itself as a roadside real estate business focused on building and scaling a high-quality portfolio of modern, ESG-compliant assets, is in the process of exiting its non-core investments.

Cambridge Sleep Sciences has achieved significant success licensing its ground-breaking technologies during the year, securing agreements with Sleep Sense International Limited and Massimo Consumer Audio. It expects to generate revenues in excess of £10 million over the next three years, based on the licence deals already signed and announced and anticipates generating revenues from these in Q4 2023.

Cambridge Sleep Sciences is also in advanced negotiations with several household names on a number of new multi-year enterprise licensing deals for its SleepEngine technology. These agreements are expected to deliver significant additional revenues to the business over the coming years.

Given the commercial opportunity SleepEngine presents, Barkby's Board has appointed advisers to undertake a strategic review of Barkby's investment in Cambridge Sleep Sciences as the Company focuses on its Roadside Real Estate strategy.

There can be no certainty that any offer or sale will ultimately be made for Cambridge Sleep Sciences or the value of any such proposed deal, the company said.

Charles Dickson, Barkby Executive Chairman, said: "We are delighted with the progress made by CSS over the last three years. The market opportunity for its technologies is clearly significant and we look forward to providing further updates on CSS's progress in due course.

"We expect CSS to become a significant business in its own right and the purpose of the strategic review is to evaluate the most appropriate corporate setting and structure for the company to allow it to develop its full potential as well as what is in the best interests of Barkby's shareholders."

Last month Barkby Group announced that it had disposed of Workshop Trading Holdings, trading under the Workshop Coffee brand, via a management buyout (MBO) as part of its strategy to focus on real estate and sell its non-core assets.

Berkshire's ISS Aerospace, a manufacturer of UAVs (Uncrewed Aerial Systems), has announced the latest addition to its catalogue, the WASP M4-TL.

According to ISS, this new UAV will 'usher in the next generation of semi-autonomous aerial systems'. The selling points for the system are its cost effectiveness, defence and security applications, and flexibility.

WASP is man portable and deployed in less than 3 seconds. The launcher can be operated physically by a person, or remotely if mounted on a vehicle, infrastructure, or ship.

The platform transitions to conventional multi-rotor flight after an initial rocket launch. Mission dependent, the whole system is re-usable. It can be stored for many years and remain ready for rapid use.

Visit Hampshire Biz News for bright, upbeat and positive business news from the county

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.