Capita acquires Trustmarque for £57m from Liberata

Capita has acquired Trustmarque Solutions for £57 million, part of rival outsourcing group Liberata.

Trustmarque’s core business is software sales, licensing and technology services. Key specialities include software asset management and strategic cloud consultancy, as well as business intelligence, workforce productivity and resourcing.

The company serves over 1,450 private and public sector clients and employs 620 employees based in five offices in York, Coventry, Sheffield, Edinburgh and London.

Trustmarque reported revenue of £191.9 million and underlying operating profits of £4.3 million in its last financial year to 31 December 2015. Gross assets were reported as £80 million.

Post-acquisition, with benefits from cross selling, cost savings and market growth, Trustmarque is expected to achieve Capita’s target post-tax return on investment of 15 percent in 2018, said Capita.

Trustmarque has a notable public sector presence in the NHS and in the private sector in accounting and legal services.

It is Microsoft’s most accredited UK partner, holding 14 Gold Partner competencies, and is the largest Microsoft public sector licensing specialist in the UK – providing over £100 million-worth of licenses each year.

It is also a Microsoft Cloud Solutions Provider and is Microsoft’s biggest partner in the UK for public sector cloud.

Capita has worked with Trustmarque for a number of years as a software fulfilment partner within Capita Technology Solutions, Capita’s technology reseller and service integration business. So it is a good fit.

Despite all the good signals though, Liberata’s holding company obviously didn’t see it as core after only buying it two years ago.

Andy Parker, Capita’s chief executive, said: “This acquisition provides Capita with a set of capabilities and expertise that complement our existing businesses – and the mix of core reseller activity and higher value services is a strong proposition that will sit well with our wider technology offering.

“Trustmarque will provide a number of opportunities to build new services and deepen our existing relationships with key partners, in particular with Microsoft.”

Scott Haddow (pictured), chief executive of Trustmarque, said: “There are a number of opportunities for integration, including our success selling services through G-Cloud, that will help us to lower costs and cross sell services to customers.”

@AntonySavvas