Calyx enters British market with €3.68m deal

IRISH technology group Calyx has bought British-based IT services firm ITS for €3.68 million.

This deal follows the purchase last week of Cork based QCL for €1.3m and is part of the group’s policy of strategic growth through bolt-on acquisitions.

Calyx is listed on London’s AIM market and will pay for the business through cash and shares.

Calyx is the largest single-source provider of information and communication technology (ICT) network solutions in Ireland.

Its purchase of ITS Technology Services will be paid for initially with €2.76m in cash and €176,000 in shares with a further €735,000 in earn outs due provided agreed performance criteria are met.

Calyx says the deal is its first move into Britain, allowing it to benefit from ITS’s existing relationships with companies such as Cisco, Nortel and Microsoft.

Last year, ITS had revenues of £3 million (€4.4m) and pre-tax profits of £450,000 (€661,000).

Calyx also provides ICT services to businesses and enterprises in Northern Ireland. Calyx operates from headquarters in Dublin and regional offices in Cork and Limerick. In total, the group employs more than 170 employees.

Maurice Healy, chief executive, co-founded the business in 1989 and went on to become group managing director of its parent company at that time, Alphyra Group Plc.

In 2002 Alphyra sold its voice and data group, by way of a management buyout led by Maurice Healy, to Calyx.

ITS provides converged voice and data solutions for the healthcare, publishing, emergency services and government market in Britain.

Clients include, the St Ives Group Plc - the leading print press company; Associated Newspapers Ltd - a subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust.

At the end of August Calyx reported pre-tax profits of just under €650,000 for the first half of this year, up nearly 90% on the same period a year earlier.