Sage Group subsidiary Sage Pay Europe has paid £16.7m/20m Euros to acquire Dublin-based Integral Computers. This is a strategic acquisition that expands Sage Pay’s burgeoning payment processing business. It also helps Sage Group with its broader vision of moving into areas that complement its core accountancy and business management applications.
One of the immediate impacts will be to improve the balance of capabilities within Sage Pay. Integral Computers is a ‘cardholder present’ payment processing provider, providing services to SME retailers. Sage Pay operates in the ‘cardholder not present’ space. It plans to integrate the Integral Solution into Sage Pay. The 40 Integral staff will be retained.
As well as providing Sage as a whole with cross sell opportunities, Sage Group CEO Guy Berruyer says it is the type of acquisition that increases its exposure to higher growth segments. Although the company is a steadfast performer (see In praise of ‘Boring’ Sage) and FY 2011 revenue was up 4% on the previous year (see Sage juggernaut on the move), it would benefit from involvement in faster moving areas.