Educational technology specialist RM Group has acquired DACTA, and with it a mainland European presence, for just shy of £4m.

DACTA, which recorded an operating profit of £570k on revenues of £6.5m in its last financial year, manages a pan-European network of resellers of branded educational resources. It is also the exclusive distributor for LEGO Education in the UK, and 16 other European countries.

The firm will be managed as a separate entity within the RM Group with its own product development, sales & marketing, and distribution activities. RM Group will provide financial and operational support, it says.

Tim Pearson, CEO of RM, said: "DACTA is a great addition to RM's Education Resources business. It's a well-managed and profitable business, providing educational technology products that are widely and enthusiastically used by the educational ICT community."

Pearson also waded into the Wi-Fi safety debate, following a Panorama programme detailing concerns many parents and teachers have about using Wi-Fi networks in schools. With the caveat that RM takes health and safety issues very seriously, Pearson argues that the whole Wi-Fi debate boils down to an evaluation of risk:

"Everything has some risk - tragically, a 13-year-old boy tragically died earlier this year after reportedly swallowing a pen top. It seems certain to me that pens this year have killed more British schoolchildren than Wi-Fi...our own view has always been, and remains, that Wi-Fi is very unlikely to carry significant risk," he wrote.

You can read the rest of his statement here. ®

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