Sabio set for double acquisition

Contact centre VAR reveals it is undergoing due diligence with two firms that will grow its client base and hand it access to adjacent technology

Contact centre VAR Sabio is on the verge of completing a double acquisition as it edges towards hitting £100m revenue.

Sabio's bosses completed an MBO in 2016, with the backing of private equity firm Lyceum Capital, and announced plans to expand out of the UK and into mainland Europe.

The VAR acquired DatapointEurope and Rapport last year and has now agreed to acquire two more firms, with the deals currently going through due diligence.

Sabio CEO Andy Roberts (pictured) told CRN that the firms are both headquartered in the UK with international presences.

"The two strategies that we've talked about are growing the base, both internationally and in the UK; and adjacent technology," he said.

"Adjacent technology is the best way of describing the tech that we're looking to bring. I expect it to be able to link the digital world with the human-assisted world.

"We want to be able to look after the customer's whole infrastructure so they can come to one organisation to run their contact strategy."

Since acquiring Datapoint, Roberts said that Sabio has seen a shift in where its revenue comes from. Pre-acquisition, the VAR saw 80 per cent of its revenue come from the UK, but the figure is now more even, with 55 per cent coming from home and the rest from abroad.

Roberts said the acquisitions are part of Sabio's ambition to hit £100m revenue, which he says the firm will likely do in the next two or three years, partly as a result of the increased focus in mainland Europe and Asia.

Both acquisitions will also bolster Sabio's own intellectual property (IP), he added, which the firm has built up over recent years. The IP sits on the core infrastructure provided by Avaya and Gamma.

"We've brought in bits of our own IP with Datapoint and Rapport - it's wraparound services which help IT organisations monitor their environments and make sure they're safe; productivity through interaction with the technology they're using; and making customer experiences better," he said.

"Those three modules will be key for us moving forwards and we're going to look to stitch those pieces together into a console, which will be our own IP."

Sabio has seen strong revenue growth over recent years, jumping from £29m to around £60m and expects to hit £100m over the next few years, before implementing plans to hit £200m soon after.