Kingston buys Smart421

Hull telco Kingston Communications has announced the acquisition of business applications integrator Smart421 for £24.2m cash.

Smart421 has about £4m in the bank, so Kingston is effectively handing over £20.2m for the firm. In its July annual results, Smart421 turned over £11.1m at a pre-tax profit of £1.5m.

Kingston will operate Smart421 as a discrete entity, and use it to complement Affiniti, its systems reseller and integration business.

Also today, Kingston gave an update its own H1 performance. It reported it will have 139,000 broadband subscribers at the end of H1, that Affinti is profiting from several big enterprise network upgrade deals, and a decline in custom from ISPs and premium rate services was being offset by growth in interactive media.

Chairman Michael Abrahams said: "Strong sales momentum, continued growth across the businesses and a solid financial performance has resulted in an overall performance that is in line with our expectations." ®