The hunter has become the hunted. Serial acquirer Accumuli (ACM) has accepted a 32.8p-a-share offer from fellow cybersecurity group NCC (NCC), which represents a hefty 24.3 per cent premium to its average share price over the past 12 months.
Accumuli's shares climbed 6 per cent on the news, while NCC's shares dipped 7 per cent. The pair have jointly bid for projects in the past; the combined group will be able to offer NCC's consulting expertise alongside Accumuli's 24/7 security support and incident management. Accumuli also believes its customers will greatly benefit from a richer range of security services and a broader geographical footprint, giving it more growth opportunities.
The tie-up may also accelerate Accumuli's efforts to ‘seed’ its customers with additional IT solutions, which has driven up sales of higher-margin professional and managed services. The strategy fuelled strong second-half growth in its technology solutions arm, which management expects to help drive full-year group sales up 63 per cent to £27m.
Prior to news of the NCC deal, broker finnCap expected sales of £22.4m, giving EPS of 1.7p (from £16.6m and 1.3p in 2014).
