EY acquires Irish technology consulting business
Professional services firm EY has announced the acquisition of Client Solvers (Holding) Ltd, a leading software development and IT consultancy services business in Ireland. No financial details were disclosed.
The acquisition is subject to closing conditions, including merger clearance by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
EY said the deal would enhance its offerings across a range of services, including software development, SAP solutions, service management and intelligent automation and would create a truly market-leading technology proposition for EY clients.
Its main trading entity is a company called Client Solutions, which operates in Ireland and the UK. Latest accounts for Client Solutions show it made a profit of €3.5 million in the year to the end of June 2020, down from €4.6 million a year earlier. It paid a dividend of €3.3 million during the period to its parent entity, Client Solvers (Holding) Ltd, down from €4.2 million a year earlier.
Revenue fell by 2 per cent to €25.5 million and it closed the year with retained earnings of €5.3 million. It auditor for the period was BDO, which was paid a fee of €21,000.
Shares buyback
Accounts for Client Solvers (Holding) Ltd show that it repurchased almost 112,000 shares for €2.5 million post the June 2020 year-end date, while also refinancing its bank loans and repaying shareholders in full.
Commenting on the deal, Frank O’Keeffe, managing partner of EY Ireland, said: “The potential acquisition of Client Solutions is hugely exciting for EY and is in line with our ambitious growth strategy. We believe Client Solutions will be a great fit for EY clients as we enhance our service offering and suite of business solutions. The Client Solutions team has a solid reputation in the market and their skills will complement EY teams’ existing credentials in the technology consulting space.”
Teddy McCarthy, chief executive of Client Solutions, said: “We look forward to the prospect of joining EY where we will continue to foster our culture of continuous improvement and innovation to deliver excellence in enterprise technology solutions. This is an exciting next step in our journey and together I am confident we will go from strength to strength in driving our clients’ success.”
Gloss