VAR secures £10m investment to fund acquisition

Newbury-headquartered IT services provider will splash investment cash straight away

Roc Technologies has secured £10m in investment from the British Growth Fund (BGF) to fuel further growth for the VAR.

The cash will in part be used to fund its acquisition of Chelmsford-headquartered City Change Management (CCM), a firm which provides project management services for complex IT transformation projects, with recent customers including Gatwick Airport.

Roc will also use the funding to support further organic growth, which was worth more than 90 per cent in 2017. Accounts up to the end of March 2016 show the company had revenue of £15.8m, and operating profit of £1.8m, up from £8.2m in 2015.

"Roc has experienced significant growth, and our strategy is to continue to increase the scale of the business while enhancing the services and value we provide to customers," said Matt Franklin, chief executive at Roc.

"Our partnership with BGF provides access to their £2.5bn funding capability which will help us to execute future business development opportunities; the acquisition of CCM is part of that plan.

"Having successfully delivered a number of high-profile, complex transformation projects, CCM has developed a strong industry reputation. We have known CCM for over 10 years and have collaborated on some major customer initiatives. The formalisation of our relationship will enable us to bring powerful joint services to the market."

Franklin explained that the decision to bring in an external equity investor as part of the acquisition process was not taken lightly.

"However, BGF's long-term, non-controlling approach was a good fit with our own ambitions. The BGF team has a growing reputation in the tech industry and in particular with some of our delivery partners. We have got to know them well throughout the investment process, and are looking forward to partnering with them," he added.

Kate Hanaghan, chief research officer at analyst TechMarketView said: "Roc provides services to support business process, project delivery, and technology transformation. As it continues to grow we'll see it invest to improve its own operations and infrastructure and keep an eye out for additional acquisition opportunities."