British Telecom (BT) has acquired IT consulting and outsourcing firm Lynx Technology in a move that sees the UK telecoms giant continue to muscle in on the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) space.

In August, BT swallowed up Basilica as part of its strategy to enter the IT solutions marketplace. In a statement today, the company said the Lynx deal will help advance that aim, and that the combined firms would complement each other.

Financial terms were undisclosed but BT said Derbyshire-based Lynx, which has more than 500 staff, saw revenues of £47m for the year ended 30 September 2006.

BT will undoubtedly hope to take advantage of Lynx's strong partnerships with the likes of HP, Symantec, and Microsoft.

Lynx managing director Paul Edgeley said: "We're delighted with the opportunities this transaction will deliver to the strong platform that we have developed. And we're confident that this will prove to be extremely beneficial for our customers, employees and our business partners."

BT shares are currently trading at 311.5 pence on the London Stock Exchange, up 1.47 per cent on the previous close. ®