HR technology consultancy Cedar Consulting bought by Version 1

12 June 2018 Consultancy.uk

Dublin based tech outsourcing firm Version 1 has bridged the Irish Sea with a multimillion Euro spending spree in recent months. The firm has further added to its tally of UK purchases with the acquisition of British consultancy Cedar Consulting.

Established 20 years ago, London headquartered firm Cedar Consulting provides application, business, technology and training consulting services, with a focus on Oracle solutions, including Cloud, Taleo and PeopleSoft offerings. The UK-origin firm serves the Human Resources (HR) and technology needs of clients globally from its offices in the UK, Switzerland, Australia and India, and employs more than 80 people.

As well as being commended for its performance by clients, Cedar has annual revenues of its own of €6 million, and is profitable, making it an attractive target for potential acquisition strategies, and now the firm has been purchased by Version 1, which is currently forecasting full-year revenues of €120 million (£105 million) in 2018, and has been on the lookout for deals since completing a €90 million funding round last year.

Simon Wragg and Tom O’Connor

Having entered the UK market five years ago, the Irish professional services outfit now employs more than 400 employees at offices in Belfast, Edinburgh, London and the Midlands as well as another 700 in the Republic. The deal for Cedar brings the workforce at Version 1 to 1,100, further bolstering its outsourcing, IT services and technology transformation offerings and expanding its UK customer base to more than 250 companies.

Amid a concerted push to expand across the UK and mainland Europe ahead of Brexit, the Dublin headquartered firm has also confirmed it has a pipeline of UK acquisitions planned for 2018 and beyond as part of its strategy to drive growth.

The company's chief executive Tom O'Connor said, "We see Brexit as a unique challenge which must be overcome in order to grow our business and continue to expand in the UK market. The current business marketplace is challenging. When Brexit is factored into the mix, the landscape becomes uncertain and complex, especially in Northern Ireland. But it can be overcome and it will not stop us delivering for our UK customers.''

Cedar will now become part of Version 1's rapidly-growing ERP practice – with Cedar having won numerous awards in the field previously – while Cedar's directors Simon Wragg and Graham Varley will join Version 1's management team. The pair will continue to manage customer relationships, business development and service delivery excellence in addition to helping oversee the successful integration of the two companies.

O’Connor added, “The Cedar acquisition not only expands our rapidly growing footprint in the UK but also brings a team with market leading expertise and specialist skills in HR transformation, which will be of great benefit to our Northern Ireland customers. We're very excited about our future.''

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