Inca sells up to ‘aggressive’ Avisen

IBM Cognos reseller Inca has agreed to sell up for £3.5m

An aggressive consolidator is emerging in the UK IBM channel in the shape of alternative investment market-listed Avisen.

The performance management firm has just gobbled up Cognos partner Inca – its second UK IBM reseller conquest this year.

The £3.5m share-based deal comes three months after Avisen bought Eon Enterprises, which owns Cognos and IBM Business Partner Infocube. This year, Avisen has also snapped up performance management consultancy Wexner Global and South African Cognos partner Quadrum Consulting.

“This is Avisen’s fourth acquisition this year as our aggressive growth strategy continues, said Marcus Hanke, chief executive of Avisen.

Nick King, chariman of IBM Business Partner Apex, said the acquisition provides further evidence of consolidation in the IBM channel.

“People are seeing they need scale to grab vendors’ attention and acknowledgement,” he said.

The Inca Group’s two subsidiaries boast a combined turnover of more thn £6m and a 500-strong UK and European customer base.

For the year ended 28 February 2009, Inca Software banked an operating profit of £257,529 on revenues that fell 13 per cent to £5.72m. Inca Technology made an operating loss of £872,459 on turnover that grew to £379,588.

Hanke said Avisen was interested in both Inca’s own-brand enterprise planning software and its support division, which generated more than £2m in recurring revenues last year.

“As such, we expect this acquisition to be earnings enhancing for the current financial year,” he said.

Hanke added: “This acquisition is in line with our stated strategy to expand the scale and depth of the company’s software, support and consulting service capabilities as well as adding intellectual property assets with every acquisition.”

Chris and Jayne Kerrison, co-founders and senior executives of Inca, will join Avisen’s senior management team on completion of the deal.