Property and construction software firm Eleco (ELCO) has moved to strengthen its position in project portfolio management (PPM) software for the built environment. The £122 million small cap has acquired UK-based SaaS (software-as-a-service) provider Kivue in a deal worth roughly £2.3 million.
The AIM-listed software group provides digital solutions across the full building lifecycle—from project estimation and management to BIM, visualisation and property management. It said the deal will expand its capabilities in enterprise-level portfolio oversight and governance. The acquisition will be funded through a combination of cash and newly issued equity. Additionally, 337,363 new shares will be issued as part of the consideration.
What Kivue brings
Kivue’s flagship Perform platform delivers portfolio visualisation, governance frameworks and risk monitoring tools designed to support senior decision-makers. The business generated roughly £1.5 million in revenue and £0.2 million in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) in the year to 31 October 2025. Moreover, it counts major infrastructure and aviation clients among its customer base, including London City Airport and Virgin Atlantic.
| Eleco (ELCO) | Price: 145p (-1.5%) | Market cap: £122 million |
Strategically, the acquisition is expected to deepen Eleco’s exposure to higher-value enterprise software deployments. This is particularly so at the executive and C-suite level where demand for real-time portfolio intelligence continues to grow. Management noted that Perform is highly complementary to Eleco’s existing PM3 solution under its BestOutcome brand. As a result, this enhances the company’s ability to offer integrated portfolio and programme management solutions to large, complex project environments.
Onboarding fresh expertise
Importantly, Kivue’s operational leadership team will join Eleco, providing continuity and a strengthened commercial team. Eleco wants to leverage Kivue’s existing customer relationships and domain expertise. Consequently, it aims to accelerate cross-selling opportunities across its broader Building Lifecycle software portfolio.
From a strategic standpoint, the transaction reflects continued consolidation in niche vertical software markets. In these markets, vendors are increasingly looking to build end-to-end digital ecosystems.
While financially modest in scale, the acquisition appears aligned with Eleco’s longer-term strategy of expanding recurring SaaS revenues. It is also aligned with moving further up the value chain into strategic portfolio decision support tools.
Eleco has a long track record for executing savvy M&A. However, there has been an acceleration over the [past cope of years, having bought Vertical Digital and PEMAC for approximately £6 million combined since mid-2024.
The company has a clear strategy to expand its software portfolio for the built environment, and Kivue fits neatly into that.
Eleco has been cash-generative and profitable for years but sensibly wants to pull itself up the value chain. It recently raised guidance (read here). However, investors should be wary, given the impact AI is threatening across the software space. The company will need to demonstrate scope to lift operating margins beyond the low-to-mid-teens of recent years. In addition, it must power faster revenue growth, which averages just 5% a year since 2019.
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