Imtech eyes acquisitions

Further purchases firmly on the agenda for firm that bought UK IBM partner Real Solutions in 2008

Pan-European technical services monster Imtech plans to continue acquiring as it chases a 2015 turnover target of €8bn (£6.7bn).

The Amsterdam-based firm, which operates in the markets of electrical engineering, ICT and mechanical engineering, bought UK IBM partner Real Solutions in 2008. Last year it made nine acquisitions, including two in the IT market in Austria and Switzerland.

Euronext and NYSE-listed Imtech put further acquisitions firmly on the agenda after closing the books on 2010.

After seeing sales rise four per cent to €4.48bn last year, Imtech is targeting turnover of €8bn in 2015 and recently secured a bank credit facility of €700m to finance growth.

"The growth will be divided equally between organic growth and growth through acquisitions," stated the firm.

Real Solutions has since been rebranded as Imtech ICT and Imtech's overall ICT, traffic and marine revenue fell one per cent last year to €1.15bn.

Market conditions in the UK, Ireland and Spain had been "challenging last year" due to the economy, said Imtech, as sales in the region fell seven per cent to €517m.

Pieter Koenders, Imtech's corporate communications manager, said its UK IT business was moving away from reselling towards more of a value-add model based on a mix of datacentre, ERP, business intelligence and embedded software.

"Our English colleagues did very well as the market was very difficult last year," he said.