Glasgow-based Kick ICT acquires Consilium UK Ltd

Kick ICT Group, one of the fastest growing and leading providers of IT services in the UK, led by technology entrepreneur Tom O’Hara, has acquired Consilium UK Ltd, an expert IT consultancy, solutions, support and development services business.

Founded in 2015, the deal is Kick’s eighth in seven years as the business continues to focus on expanding its service offering to customers across the UK.

The deal, which is for an undisclosed sum, has resulted in an expanded and enhanced technical division within the Group, extending the portfolio of IT products, services and support provided to both the SME and Enterprise markets. The acquisition of a specialist technical services provider with a presence in London is a key strategic move in Kick’s ongoing growth strategy and focus as a leading IT services supplier to the UK market.

Based in London, Consilium provides IT Consulting, Support, Cloud and Security Services throughout the UK. Richard Abrams has been appointed Head of Technical Services and joins Kick ICT Group, alongside his co-directors Stuart Beattie and David Hood, together with 25 former Consilium staff who are also moving across as part of the deal.

With the acquisition of Consilium UK Ltd, Kick will see run rate turnover increase to £25m, profit before tax to £4m and recurring revenues to £19m. Kick now employs 160 staff and expects numbers to increase further following the launch of the Kick Academy, a project aimed at recruiting and developing school leavers and graduates.

In 2021 the company received an £8.7m investment from BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor, with the aim of encouraging Kick’s strong upward trajectory, achieved through a mixture of organic growth and M&A activity. As well as the investment, Geoff Neville was appointed Chairman following an introduction via the BGF Talent Network, which is the UK’s largest pool of non-executive directors.

Tom O’Hara, CEO of Kick ICT, said: “Kick has made excellent progress during the last year including integrating the three acquisitions we made in 2021. The addition of Consilium sees us create an outstanding and unrivalled technical team and I’m excited about working with Richard, Stuart, David and the team.

“I’m delighted to welcome our new customers from Consilium and very much look forward to working with them. In addition, it’s great that our new customers will take us over one of our early milestone objectives of working with 1000 customers across the UK.”

Richard Abrams, the new Head of Technical Services at Kick ICT, said: “We are delighted to be joining Tom, Alan and Jeannie and the team at Kick and are looking forward to delivering outstanding technical solutions to customers across the Group.”

Richard Pugh, investor at BGF, said: “This acquisition will broaden Kick ICT’s already outstanding service offering and client base. We will now continue to work closely with Tom and the wider management team as the company continues to grow its scale, capabilities and presence.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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