Capita PLC (LON:CPI) shares jumped on Monday as the outsourcing firm confirmed plans to sell its education software solutions (ESS) business.
In an announcement after Friday’s close, the FTSE 250 group said following a strategic review of its software division over the past year it had decided to focus on “a portfolio of core software capabilities” which were better aligned with and supported its consulting, transformation and digital BPO services as well as the vertical markets of the rest of the group.
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Capita said it will retain software assets that served as “catalysts” for growing its other services and planned to dispose of any standalone software that has little overlap or cross-sell with the rest of the company.
As a result, the company confirmed that it is preparing to sell ESS, a standalone provider of management information system software for the educations sector, following confirmation earlier on Friday that it had agreed to sell Eclipse Legal Systems, a standalone legal process software product, to Access UK Limited for £56.5mln.
The company said the proceeds of the Eclipse sale will be used to boost its balance sheet, adding that further disposals of standalone software products will be considered as part of the ongoing strategic review.
Capita’s shares rose 13.3% to 48.8p in mid-morning trading.