Fexco acquisition further strengthens UK presence

Fexco, the Kerry-headquartered international financial services group, has strengthened its presence in the British market by acquiring retail foreign exchange business InterCash for an undisclosed fee.

It marks the second big UK expansion announcement for the Killorglin company in as many weeks.

Earlier this month, Fexco said it was creating 80 jobs by opening 20 outlets of its ‘No.1 Currency’ high-street foreign exchange business.

That move means the No.1 brand, which Fexco acquired two years ago, will grow shop numbers to 37 by the end of this year, with the number of employees rising to 192. One of the new stores, in Ipswich, opened last week.

The addition of the InterCash brand, an operation with outlets across the south of England, will add 25 staff members across six outlets. The InterCash outlets will now be rebranded under the No.1 Currency name.

Explaining the latest acquisition — Fexco’s third in the UK since 2011 — the company’s director of foreign exchange services, Joe Redmond, said InterCash was a well-established and highly regarded business in the south of England, “a region we are keen to expand our presence in”.

“Our strategy of investing in new international markets during the global economic crisis has presented attractive organic growth and acquisition opportunities in equal measure for Fexco,” he said.

“In the case of the UK, we are becoming increasingly well-positioned as its economy, in particular, continues to show strong signs of recovery.”

Fexco has operations in 28 countries and employs around 2,300 people globally, including about 1,200 in Ireland. It had been looking at enhancing its presence in Britain for a number of years and used its takeover of Edinburgh-based No.1 Currency in early 2012 as a platform for further growth.