Morse is beefing up its SAP consultancy business with the acquisition of Diagonal for £50.2m in cash and shares. The UK computer reseller's offer has been recommended by the Diagonal board, which last month rejected an approach offering a similar amount from Microgen.

Richard Lapthorne, chairman of Morse, said: “Diagonal is a business that we know and have followed for some time. Whilst it has faced some challenges in recent times, we are confident that we can integrate and develop the business and so improve its financial performance. Our respective businesses are complementary so there is a genuine opportunity to provide customers with a broader service offering and to generate important service revenues and cost synergies for the combined group.” ®