KICK ICT, the Scottish independent managed IT services provider, has targeted further acquisitions after backer Business Growth Fund (BGF) made a successful exit from its investment in the firm.
BGF said it had achieved a “2x money multiple and 38% internal rate of return” on the £8.5 million investment it made in the Bellshill-based company in 2021.
Its exit was confirmed as it was announced that LDC, the private equity investor that is part of Lloyds Banking Group, had made a “significant investment” in Kick ICT, which was set up by Scottish IT veteran Tom O’Hara with Alan Turnbull and David Chazan in 2015, and has since made a flurry of bolt-on acquisitions.
READ MORE: Saturday Interview: Tech boss O'Hara's buying spree has Kick to transform IT sector
Kick ICT now employs more than 170 people and provides business and finance solutions to over 1,000 customers across a range of sectors.
Geoff Neville, who joined Kick ICT as chairman when BGF invested, will remain with the company further to the LDC deal, with Mr O’Hara staying at the helm.
Mr O’Hara said: “BGF’s investment in 2021 allowed us to continue to deliver our ambitious growth strategy, and they were a fantastic partner as we implemented our buy and build approach, and strengthened the senior team in preparation for the scale of opportunity we see in front of us. This will now continue with LDC, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead.”
Lee Donaldson, investment director at LDC in Scotland, added: “The rapid pace of digitalisation across the economy means dynamic businesses like Kick ICT will be at the forefront of growth across the UK ICT sector in the years ahead. Tom and Alan are committed and ambitious founders, and we’re excited to support them, alongside the rest of the management team, as they continue their impressive run of acquisitions to drive growth and expand the business outside Scotland.”
READ MORE: Kick ICT extends its reach to Dundee with C2 Software deal
Recent deals completed by Kick ICT included the acquisition of Dundee-based C2 Software in November, which expanded its Microsoft Dynamics offering to customers across the UK. It then made the “notable” acquisition of Paisley-based Consilium in August 2022.
Richard Pugh, investor at BGF, noted: “We’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with Tom and the team at Kick ICT to deliver fantastic business growth since our original investment in 2021. Rapid progress meant all parties were able to realise their objectives ahead of schedule, and now with the incoming investment from LDC, the time was right for us to exit the business. We look forward to seeing Kick ICT go from strength to strength in future.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here