Business Objects spends £30m on ALG Software

Business intelligence company Business Objects is shelling out £30m in cash to buy ALG Software, a global provider of budgeting and planning apps for businesses.

The company said it hopes the acquisition will strengthen its enterprise performance management offering. Business Objects CEO John Schwarz said adding ALG Software's profitability management solutions to its EPM [enterprise performance management] and business intelligence offerings will bolster Business Objects' performance management solutions.

The company was attracted by ALG's "strong solutions portfolio and proven teams", Schwartz said in a statement.

ALG has more than 400 clients worldwide, including heavyweight brands such as American Express, BA, BT, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland. Total revenue for the company was $19m for its fiscal year ended 31 January, 2006.

Business intelligence (BI) is rising up the corporate agenda. According to a survey of 1,400 CIOs, published by analyst Gartner earlier this year, BI is the top technology priority in 2006, with CIOs planning to increase their budgets by 4.8 per cent. The analyst house has also predicted the BI software market will reach $3bn in 2009.

This is not the first time Business Objects has put its hand in its pocket of late - back in July it spent $100m on buying SRC Software, a financial planning software company.

The ALG acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2006.