VAR Pure on hunt for Azure and networking acquisitions

Leeds-based outfit intends to make three acquisitions in three years as it chases £40m takeover target

VAR Pure Technology Group is aiming to make three acquisitions in three years, with Microsoft Azure and networking resellers top of its shopping list.

The Leeds-based outfit united its two constituent companies, Pure Data Solutions and Servatech, under the Pure Technology Group banner in April, and is aiming to double revenue to £40m in the next three years.

COO Cliff Fox (pictured) said the firm is currently in "advanced" talks with two targets, and is aiming to tie down one purchase a year over the course of its three-year growth plan.

Enterprise-class networking specialists, as well as Azure and AWS partners that sell to large corporates or public sector organisations top the wish list, Fox said.

"Cloud adoption among SMEs has gone through the roof in the last few years and it's certainly now a mature market," Fox said.

"I see the next growth area in cloud as being the enterprise space; it's more complex getting them to cloud because they have more legacy equipment. I'm particularly interested in businesses that have the Azure piece, and some bolt-on capabilities around Sharepoint and CRM."

Acquisitions that can catapult Pure into the south of England, which it currently serves remotely from its two northern offices, are also desirable, said Fox, who stressed that Pure is approaching both firms that are - and aren't - for sale.

"If the deal size is modest, it can be done out of our own funds as we are cash-rich and have a good EBITDA. If the deal is bigger we have funding in place from our backers, which is a well-known high street bank," he explained.

"One per year would be ideal for ease of operation, but it won't work out that way."

Pure has "glued together" the two parts of its business in the last few months, a strategy which Fox said has yielded three £500,000-plus infrastructure projects that it has either closed or is about to close.

An HP Gold partner, Pure has placed some "big bets" on emerging vendors this year, Fox said, most notably Chinese networking giant Huawei, which is aggressively squaring up to Cisco, a vendor Fox worked with at previous firm SICL.

"I was Cisco through and through for 10 years and looked at the Huawei proposition with raised eyebrows. But I've been convinced. When I look at the quality of what they are building, it is faster, smarter and, on average, 30 per cent less cost," he said.