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Two Xerox houses become one: Pair of copycats now big, fat £57m UK firm

Xeretec weds Bytes Document Solutions

Print integrator Xeretec has wolfed down fellow Xerox house Bytes Document Solutions (BDS) for an undisclosed sum.

The deal, which was closed in the wee small hours of this morning, will create a £57m turnover organisation that employs 220 staff across 11 offices in the UK and Ireland, the firms claimed.

Darren Spence, UK MD at BDS, told us he'll stay with the business during a three-month transition to meet customers, conclude projects and help with the integration before heading to new pastures.

"[Bytes Technology Group's] management team looked at the overall strategy a year ago and decided that the future of the UK operation is finding companies that are more aligned to software and services," he said.

The core business is software licensing, asset management, cloud, integration and the security services, the latter it inherited via the take over of Security Partnerships a few years back.

Bytes is a top table enterprise channel partner for Microsoft, and also sells wares from Symantec, Adobe, Oracle, Citrix and VMware.

The South African-owned group acquired Xerox's sub-Saharan operation early in the noughties, and BDS UK emerged in 2006 when its parent acquired Xerox concessionaires Xclusive and Vantage Business Systems, swallowing Planflow Systems two years later.

In the year to 28 February, BTG reported a two per cent decline in turnover to £19.65m but a seven per cent year-on-year climb in operating profits to £952k which after tax left a net income of £680k versus £603k. It employed 70 staffers.

According to Companies House, Xeretec turned over £21.1m in sales for fiscal '12 ended 31 August, a rise of 4.5 per cent year-on-year and made a profit after tax of £871k compared to £744k the year before.

Xeretec group managing director Steve Hawkins said in a prepared statement that the enlarged entity plans to become a £100m sales engine by the very precise date of 1 September 2019.

Spence, who has been at the helm of BSD for four years - 17 in the Bytes Group - told us he was offered alternative roles by Bytes but decided to look for ventures elsewhere in IT services. ®

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