Chess Ltd. has acquired Foursys, a 10-year Sophos cybersecurity partner. The deal adds more than £11m to Chess's turnover, bringing it to £120m, the company said. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Cybersecurity is of upmost importance for any modern business," said Chess Founder and CEO David Pollock in a prepared statement. "Foursys shares our passion for delivering technological advantage and importantly this acquisition enhances our security offering to our customers. Together with their expertise, we have the talent and technology needed to deliver truly integrated solutions across enterprise, mobile and cloud environments.”
Foursys has about 50 employees and offers IT services across the UK. Chess, by contrast, offers a lengthy list of IT services including: Product supply and installation, storage, hosted and cloud solutions, managed services, networking infrastructure, professional services, business continuity, unified communications and systems management.
As of January 2016, Chess had 450 employees. And in 2015, the company's turnover grew 33% to £74m and EBITDA rose of 13%, to over £14m. We don't know if Chess disclosed financial figures for 2016.
Chess: Mastering the Art of M&A?
Chess, which supports more than 30,000 customers, has extensive experience on the M&A front. The company apparently has made more than 100 M&A deals to date, though we're double-checking the figure. Earlier acquisitions included:
- 2016: Lanway, a 20-year-old IT solutions provider focused on communications and collaboration technology. And Pinnacle CDT, which specialized in data, telecommunication and IT support.
- Earlier: Avenir Mobile, which added more than 78,000 mobile connections and 200 resellers. Plus, Parachute IT and Compwise ICT businesses.
