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Focus makes ninth deal with Silver Lining move

Channel player continues its M&A spree, with another deal being struck in a year that has already seen it highly active on the acquisition front

Simon Quicke
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Published: 17 Sep 2024 16:00

Focus Group has made its ninth acquisition of the year, as the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)-focused channel player continues to expand its reach and expertise.

The firm has been motoring in the M&A market in 2024, as it looks to build on its existing IT and telco capabilities with the addition of Hampshire-based Silver Lining.

The latest acquisition target brings in more voice, data and technical expertise, and widens its geographic reach.

The deal also includes Atmoso, an established channel-only provider that specialises in managed cloud services and PCI compliance.

The latest move is part of an ambitious strategy by Focus to build a country-wide network that can position the firm as the go-to for SME customers. “We have developed a very considered approach to acquisitions over recent years, and carefully target the right businesses off-market,” said Rhys Bailey, chief revenue officer at Focus Group.

He said Silver Lining had a similar approach to customers and will be a good fit in the wider group.

“We have a shared commitment to developing a connected future, where businesses can use converged technologies to accelerate growth,” he said. “To support this ambition, we’ll be drawing on the Silver Lining team’s technical capabilities to deliver a compelling portfolio of services across our combined customer base.”

Value and expertise

The plan is to keep the team and owners at Silver Lining in place, given their value and expertise. The Fareham-based firm has been going since 2007, and specialises in networking voice over Internet Protocol, Session Initiation Protocol and security.

Allan Packer, founder and managing director at Silver Lining, said the move will benefit its staff and customers.

“Joining forces with Focus Group marks a milestone moment in our journey,” he said. “From the outset, it was clear that the teams at Focus Group and Silver Lining share a common goal of delivering unparalleled value to our customers. This collaboration allows us to harness Focus Group’s vast resources whilst contributing our specialised expertise in cloud services.”

Focus secured a sizeable investment from Hg Capital back in April, with the finance specialist ploughing £21.3m into the business.

So far this year, Focus has picked up Entropie and Cellular Solutions back in May, Midland Telecom in April, Datasharp in March and Pinnacle in February.

Expansionist ambitions

Speaking back in April, when Hg made its investment, Ralph Gilbert, co-founder of Focus Group, indicated that the funds would be used to continue with the firm’s expansionist ambitions.

“Hg have demonstrated their ability to create value using their extensive experience in backing companies who sell business services to SMEs,” he said. “They show a deep understanding of how to maximise and accelerate growth using data and AI; this has resonated with us as we already have sector-leading data on which we are excited to capitalise.

“Alongside this, we found that we have well-aligned views of the future of the ICT industry, both in terms of product and future M&A opportunities.”

The terms of the Silver Lining deal were not disclosed.

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