K3 chalks up fourth buy in four months

ERP reseller acquires second unit from Sage reseller FD Systems

Ravenous mid-market ERP reseller K3 has tied up its fourth acquisition in as many months.

The Alternative Investment Market-listed company has acquired Clarita Solutions, the NAV arm of Sage reseller FD Systems, for £0.82m.

K3 kicked off a frenetic shopping spree in November when it snapped up Hampshire-based Sage reseller Panacea for £1.7m. In December, K3 bought FD System's Sage 200 business unit for £1.25m, before acquiring Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP provider Sense Enterprise Solutions for £1.2m earlier this month.

Many of these acquisitions have had a managed services bent.

Clarita, which provides Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP solutions to the retail and distribution markets, was only bought by FD Systems itself in June 2009.

Boasting annual sales of £3.1m and an underlying operating profit of £0.25m, Clarita will be integrated into K3's existing operations.

Andy Makeham, chief executive of K3, said: "Clarita is a well established NAV reseller in the UK focused on the same market sectors as K3. It therefore represents a highly complementary acquisition, which we can readily integrate into our existing operations.

"Its addition brings us £1m of recurring revenues and another 70 customers to whom we can offer further software services and solutions, including hosting."

As well as providing NAV, Clarita also resells the Pebblestone fashion distribution software it acquired last year.

In its latest reported period, for the six months ending 31 December, K3 saw revenues rise five per cent to £24.67m.