Excalibur takes another swing at IT sector with Ntegra buy

Comms provider buys Ntegra's support services arm, its latest acquisition in the IT sector

Comms VAR Excalibur has continued its sortie into the IT space by snapping up the support services division of Ntegra.

The unit, which provides outsourced IT support to SMEs in and around the M4 corridor, was judged surplus to requirements by Ntegra, whose core business is providing consulting and managed services to FTSE 100 and 250 clients.

Vodafone partner Excalibur's heritage lies in mobile and voice services, but the Swindon-based firm has acquired a string of IT providers in quick succession as it positions itself as a complete comms and IT partner.

It acquired Chippenham-based IT firm Devision a year ago, following its previous acquisitions of Bridge Solutions and Emnico Enterprises.

For the 17 months ending 30 June 2017, parent Excalibur Unified Communicates posted a net profit of £238,000 on revenues of £10.4m.

Excalibur CEO James Phipps said: "This purchase very much fits in with our continuing sustained growth, adding extra strength and depth to our technical support team, as well as gaining important customers in the education and charitable sectors."

Newbury-based Ntegra indicated that it underwent significant change and restructuring during its last finanical reporting period, for the 18 months to 30 November 2015, leading it to swing to a net loss of £493,000 on revenues of £21.7m. In that period it ran down its low-margin resourcing arm.

Of today's announcement, Andy Jefferies, co-founder and CEO of Ntegra, said: "Our core focus is providing consulting and enterprise managed services to a strong portfolio of FTSE 100 and 250 clients. With this in mind, we took the strategic decision to find a home for our support services. We are delighted to have found Excalibur, a company that specialises in this area and shares the same values as we do - in particular to provide the very best in customer experience."