Borders IT firm on track for £5m revenue after acquiring Edinburgh peer

Borders-based telecoms and IT business SoConnect has acquired an Edinburgh-headquartered rival as it looks to connect more small businesses with their remote workforces amid the pandemic.
David Ellis, Campbell Fraser and Gordon Sayers. Picture: Stewart AttwoodDavid Ellis, Campbell Fraser and Gordon Sayers. Picture: Stewart Attwood
David Ellis, Campbell Fraser and Gordon Sayers. Picture: Stewart Attwood

The takeover of IT Centric (ITC), for an undisclosed sum, will give the enlarged group more than 500 customers UK-wide and revenues in excess of £5 million.

IT Centric was founded in 2004 by managing director Gordon Sayers. Sayers and David Ellis, previously a non-executive director at IT Centric and a former PwC partner, will join Campbell Fraser and Bob Bazley on the SoConnect’s board.

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Fraser said: “The acquisition of ITC further increases the broad range of services SoConnect brings to our customers. This acquisition further strengthens our cloud, cybersecurity and hosted services, and we are now even better placed to support UK-wide SME’s remote workforces in the wake of Covid-19 and what will be the new ways of working.”

The deal adds some 80 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to SoConnect’s customer base, which now totals more than 500 across the UK. The combined group has a headcount of 38, supported by a nationwide network of some 200 engineers.

In December 2019, SoConnect, which marks its tenth anniversary this year, secured a bolt-on deal with Netopa, one of Edinburgh’s top IT managed service providers.

Fraser is not ruling out further growth by acquisition over the next 12 to 18 months.

He added: “Having successfully integrated Netopa in 2020, we look forward to another smooth integration over the next few months and are excited to welcome Gordon, David and the team.

“As with the Netopa acquisition, we are in a position of real financial strength including with around 80 per cent of our contracted revenue being recurring and we have again self-funded the acquisition.”

IT Centric founder Sayers said: “I look forward to helping to drive the combined value of the business alongside Campbell and the leadership team at SoConnect.

“In common with Campbell, we share the vision around providing great value market-leading IT managed services, internet and communication services with best of class customer support.”

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Financial terms surrounding the acquisition have not been disclosed.

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