Cork BPO company Southwestern bought by Capita for €35m

UK business services outsourcing group Capita plc has bought Cork-headquartered SouthWestern Business Process Services Ltd from private equity group Ion Equity for €35m.

SouthWestern provides customer relationship management, financial shared services, data processing and inspectorate services to private and public sector organisations from offices in Ireland, the UK and Poland. Its clients include the Department of Agriculture Food and Marine, Bord Gáis, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Bord Bia, Eircom and Failte Ireland. It employs around 1,000 employees, primarily based across three sites in Co Cork, and one in Lodz, Poland, together with smaller operations in Dublin and Milton Keynes.

The company is forecasting an operating profit of €3.4m on turnover of €33.6m in its financial year to 31 December 2014. Following some integration and IT systems enhancement in 2015, Capita said it expects SouthWestern to generate an operating profit of around €7m on revenues of €47m in 2016.

“This deal will significantly enhance Capita’s presence in the Irish business process outsourcing market, which is estimated to be worth €1bn and growing by 5pc each year,” said Capita’s chief executive Andy Parker.

“SouthWestern is a highly respected outsourcing company with an excellent private and public sector client base. It has particularly strong relationships with organisations in the agricultural sector, which is a growing and new market for Capita.

“The acquisition will provide Capita the opportunity to provide new services to SouthWestern’s existing clients and to continue to grow both its customer base, and job opportunities.”