Capital Document Solutions eyes £30m sales after Highland buy

Firm wants to be Scottish print and copy channel's top banana after buying £4m corporate market player

Scottish print and copy VAR Capital Document Solutions is targeting growing its top line to £30m after acquiring Highland Office Equipment.

The deal, backed by financing from the Royal Bank of Scotland, immediately adds £3.8m of revenue to Highland's FY12 total of £16.5m. Tom Flockhart, who founded Capital in 1979, told ChannelWeb that his firm aims to hit £20m-plus organically this year as well as growing Highland's sales by giving it the clout to go for public sector business.

"We expect a very high level of growth for Highland; we are an established public sector supplier and they are the biggest company in their field in the Highlands and Islands, with some major solutions sales into big corporates," he said.

All 31 of Highland's staff will remain in place under the new owner, and the company will trade under its own name until the end of 2013, at which point it will move to the Capital brand. Sales director Alex Main and service director Steven McLennan will be key to driving future growth for the Inverness-based Konica Minolta, Ricoh and Canon dealer.

"Capital's ethos of developing each operation to run as its own entity was important to us and we're delighted an agreement has been reached," said McLennan. "This will allow us to continue to give our loyal valued staff and customers peace of mind that it is business as usual for all their sales and service requirements."

Kevin Havelock, regional director at RBS Corporate and Institutional Banking, added: "Capital Document Solutions is a fantastic, progressive Scottish business, and one we are thrilled to be helping. The acquisition highlights the company's ambition and we are delighted to be able to support them as they continue to grow."

Capital, which operates from locations in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen and Shetland, is targeting a £30m top line by 2015. And Flockhart insisted that he wants to be the number-one print and copy VAR in his homeland and that there is "no chance" of the firm looking south of the border.

"We have been around for 35 years and our position is to do something really special and unique for the Scottish market," he explained. "We could not have the same level of control trying to be a national company, as opposed to a Scottish company."