Doncaster-baed IT specialist Connectus Business Solutions has merged with Wiltshire’s KTSL, under the banner Connectus Group
The businesses and their 60 employees will continue to operate from the South Yorkshire headquarters and five other UK and Ireland sites.
Ambitious plans are in place to create further job opportunities across their commercial, delivery and support functions.
Read more: Mega shed and business hub deals landed by Peel L&P at Doncaster Sheffield Airport development
Roy Shelton, chief executive of Connectus, will continue the role at the helm of the wider group.
He said the merger sets the group on a path to becoming one of the leading IT managed service providers in the UK. Clients already include AIB, UCB, Unilever, Peel Group, Sale Sharks and the National Police Air Service.
“This is the start of an exciting new chapter for Connectus Business Solutions and KTSL and will present an opportunity for further growth and job creation,” he said.
“By bringing these two great organisations together and creating Connectus Group, we have significantly increased our technical capability, boosted our delivery resources and further deepened our pool of commercial experience. This is the third transaction in as many years for Connectus, having been forced to pause our ambitious merger and acquisition strategy due to the global pandemic.
“Although that period presented challenges, it has also thrown up exciting opportunities for forward-thinking businesses like ours that can adapt quickly to the changing needs of our clients.”
Enhanced scale is seen as bringing opportunities to bid for larger work, increasing revenues and leveraging more collaboration within the team.
Aaron Perrott, chief technical officer at KTSL, who becomes group CTO, said: “This is an exciting merger that will allow us to increase value for clients no matter their size. The significant investment KTSL has made in our own market-leading intellectual property over many years will provide clear differentiation for the Connectus Group.
“Hybrid working has opened up opportunities for clients to leverage our capabilities; simplifying, integrating and consolidating complex tools and platforms for our clients.
“This merger will allow us to extend our range of service solutions built on more than 20 years as a global leader in the IT service management and service integration space. It will extend our portfolio to include cyber security and a secure hosting capability for our solutions. This will broaden our capability to offer highly relevant solutions to help our combined clients mitigate cost and risk, improving their underlying service and employee experience.
“With such a lot to offer, and our ability to unlock rapid returns and benefits, we are all looking forward to the next phase of our growth together.”
The merger comes following a due diligence and legal process which started last November. Connectus Group expects to deliver revenues of more than £10 million in the current financial year, including “significant and sustainable profits” which will “help pave the way for accelerated organic and inorganic growth”.
Following the merger Rob Marks, chief executive of KTSL, will become non-executive chair of Connectus Group.
It will be strengthened by the arrival of Keri Brocks, company secretary and finance manager; Paul Ruocco, group chief financial officer; Tim McCue, head of professional services; Mark Robinson, founding director; Mark Wiseman, group commercial officer and Andrew North, group sales director.
