Capita acquires SouthWestern for £28m

Outsourcing specialists Capita has acquired an Ireland-based outsourced management services firm for £28m in a bid to expand its presence in the Irish business market.

Capita has purchased SouthWestern from private equity group Ion Equity.

SouthWestern, a financial services group, which specialises in customer relationship management, is forecast to generate an operating profit of €3.4m on turnover of €3.6m in its financial year of 2014.

Following some integration and IT systems enhancement in 2015, Capita expects SouthWestern to generate an operating profit of around €7m on revenues of €47m in 2016.

Its clients include the Department of Agriculture Food and Marine, Bord Gáis, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Bord Bia, Eircom and Failte Ireland.

Capia's chief executive Andy Parker said: "Capita has an established presence in Ireland with more than 1,000 employees delivering services across the financial services and other sectors.

"SouthWestern is a highly respected outsourcing company with an excellent private and public sector client base."

As of 09:37 the share price had dropped 0.3% to 1185p.

WS