Hampshire Business Computers Acquires Networking Fundamentals
15 Jan 13

Romsey-based Hampshire Business Computers (HBC) has announced the acquisition of Andover-based Networking Fundamentals Limited (NeFu) for an undisclosed six-figure sum.

One of the leading IT services companies in the south of England, HBC, will ensure the jobs of all NeFu staff, making no compulsory redundancies.

"HBC has an appetite to expand our on-premise solutions, helpdesk, engineering and virtual IT department services, said Kieron Doyle HBC Managing Director, adding, "The deal was attractive to HBC in order to grow our customer base and extend our engineering services, hardware sales, software licensing and business communications.

"NeFu's products and services reflect those of HBC very closely and the small media business (SMB) client base and locality fitted perfectly," he said The deal should add an additional half million turnover to HBC whose sales should exceed 3m in the next trading year. The company will also benefit from reduced overheads and economies of scale as Andover-based NeFu moves into HBC's Romsey offices, stripping out their building and administration costs.

Ed Best, majority shareholder at NeFu, which was founded in 2000, welcomed the move and "Looks forward to working within a larger team, offering a broader range of services and resources to NeFu clients and playing my role in expanding HBC."

Ahead of the acquisition, HBC identified many local businesses and organisations with an increasing need for top-quality local IT services, many of which are not drawn to a cloud-based solution.

HBC supports customers from Chichester to Poole on the South Coast, and as far afield as Bristol to the west and Cambridge and Norfolk in the east, as well as London. NeFu's client portfolio includes multi-national clients with installation work across Europe, as well as supporting a local and national client base.

Commenting on the outlook for local businesses, Doyle said, "Having been around since the mid 1980s, HBC has experienced to highs and lows of several economic cycles - each has its own unique challenges and opportunities. Personally we're finding things very buoyant and demand is high - further acquisitions are on the agenda."

About HBC

Founded in 1986 by the current Directors Kieron Doyle and Derrick Ross, HBC provides simple, effective IT support and solutions for organisations across Southern England, helping keep clients ahead of the competition by ensuring they have the right IT resources in place to aid the growth and success of their business.

Accreditations: Microsoft Silver Certified Partner, Sage Business Partner, Hewlett Packard Preferred Partner, SonicWALL Gold Partner, Igel Partner, Kaspersky Reseller, Sophos Silver Partner.