Compel in £2.2m Sysao acquisition
Firm to integrate Oracle competitor into Compelsolve
The Compel Group has acquired Sysao, one of its major Oracle competitors, in a deal worth almost £2.2m.
Compel will integrate Sysao into its Compelsolve business to add to its existing Oracle practice. Paul Berry, managing director of Compelsolve, said the move will allow the firm to compete against larger Oracle system integrators.
Berry claimed Sysao has performed well over the past year. "It is on the up and is about the same size as Compel, which will allow us to go up against larger competitors," he said.
Sysao's accounts for the financial year ended 28 February 2004 have not yet been fully audited, but the firm has said it expects to post a turnover of £6.4m with a profit of about £300,000.
Oracle makes up about 20 per cent of Compel's business, with Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun its other major vendor partners.
Berry said he was optimistic about the Oracle opportunity. "Oracle is having a good time of it and I expect sales to grow over the next year," he said.
Sysao employs about 50 staff and Berry confirmed that all will be taken on by Compelsolve. "There is some overlap in the back office but the majority of people are sales and marketing, and we want to take them forward with our business because they are important to us," he said.
Trudy Norris-Grey, vice-president multi-channel sales at Oracle UK, agreed that the firm will now have more clout when bidding for large deals, adding that the acquisition is good news for Oracle and its customers.
"This is a marriage of strength," she said. "These are two companies that have very different, complementary skills sets, and customers will get a lot more."
Norris-Grey added that she has worked closely with both firms over the past four years. "Both have been successful partners," she said. "They have picked up many of our partner awards in that time."