Esat Telecom has bought the BridgeCom group, a networking systems integration group, for £5.5 million, with another £2.5 million due to be paid on an earn-out basis over two years.
BridgecCom designs, installs and maintains Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN) for the corporate market in Ireland. Established in 1994, its turnover to March 31st last was £7 million and its net assets were £2.3 million.
It is understood that BridgeCom is highly profitable and that the company was bought by Esat on a multiple of 10 times its after tax profits. This suggests annual profits of well in excess of £500,000.
Esat said the acquisition is a stragetic move which would allow the group to extend its portfolio of services to its customers by adding networking solutions and systems integration services.
Esat chief executive, Mr Sean Corkery, said last night the deal "extends the value chain" for Esat, allowing the telecoms group to take the client's data desktop to the Esat backbone network. Mr Corkery said BridgeCom has customers which Esat does not, and vice versa, and the more services Esat can offer, the better. BridgeCom clients include Aer Rianta, Stream, Gateway 2000, Dell Computers and Iona Technologies. The company employs 75 people.
At the end of March last Esat provided telecommunications to 3,776 corporate customers, or 24 per cent of its target market of companies with monthly long-distance spending of more than £300 per month.
