Mike Foster talks to Mettoni's driving force

At the age of 48, his previous plan to take charge of a corporate spin-off had fallen flat. Arrowsmith was tired of working for others. He wanted to raise cash from a buoyant market to build his own venture via acquisition.

Mere weeks later, tech stocks collapsed. If Arrowsmith had changed tack at this point, no one would have blamed him. On the contrary.

'But I've always been stubborn', says Arrowsmith. 'Even though I couldn't raise cash through a business plan I decided I could buy businesses cheaply, and float them afterwards'.

Following three acquisitions, Arrowsmith's Aim-listed Mettoni now has a £30 million market value and clients including BT, Air Canada, Ford and the Leicestershire Police.

Clearly, Arrowsmith does not lack drive. He plays the odd game of squash, but his time is largely consumed by his business: 'I love the cut and thrust of doing deals', he says.

Arrowsmith started his career at accountants Kidsons before taking a senior position at FI in 1982 when it was a relative minnow. In 1986, he was seduced away to join the business consulting bit of ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi.

He was bemused when Maurice Saatchi came up with the bright idea of buying Midland Bank: 'It wasn't a good idea, and it hurt the company's rating', he says.

Arrowsmith worked at Saatchis until 1991, when he was tempted away to join accounting software group Systems Union. He carried out several deals in the Far East: 'I enjoyed mixing with the Japanese. People out there stick to their word, provided you know which word they're using'.

A search for promotion took Arrowsmith to software group DCS, where he pulled off various deals to push turnover up from £30 million to £110 million. DCS has recently done less well: its market value is currently less than Mettoni's.

As tech shares rocketed, Arrowsmith left DCS to join Lynx to take charge of a divisional spin-off. It was when that deal fell through that Arrowsmith sold his flat to start afresh: 'My daughters were surprised, but they've always considered me eccentric'.

Arrowsmith knew he needed to use his funds to prime a deal quickly and the one which came along was Quatrix, a buy-out from East Midlands Electricity: 'Quatrix is a bit like a plumber, seeking to link bits of software for its clients'.

Quatrix was impressed by Arrowsmith's argument that its software engineers would prosper as part of a larger group skilled at finding network solutions. Mettoni moved rapidly towards an Aim float, improving its credentials by recruiting the ubiquitous Nigel Whittaker (ex-Kingfisher) as chairman and Jane Tozer (ex-FI) as non-executive director.

Following Mettoni's float, Arrowsmith purchased Failsafe, a company providing secure transmission for data traded over the internet.

But his crucial deal was the £24.5 million cash and share purchase of Troy, founded by Scott MacCannell and former rock musician Iain McKenzie.

MacCannell, corporate founder, managed to secure early backing for Troy from his university pension fund in Ontario.

The company's key skill has become the development of systems within call centres which route data on a client straight on to the screen being used by the operator picking up the phone. A further development will enable an operator to see how clients are finding their way round web pages, so that they can provide navigational help.

Troy has won accreditation from major software suppliers such as Cisco. It is also working on voice recognition systems, in partnership with such firms as BT.

Troy recently went into profit, and the situation looks likely to improve further with the help of internal synergies. Quatrix, for example, is set to boost its ability to install Troy systems.

While gearing himself up for investor promotions, Arrowsmith is scouting around for more acquisitions: 'I'd like us to expand on a geographic basis', he says. To date, he has paid a fair quantity of fees to VHA Corporate Services, which helps find targets for acquisitive tech companies.

While bedding down acquisitions, Arrowsmith has sought to establish internal communications which help his software engineers to keep up to speed with new developments: 'They value our ability to do that', he says.

Ideas come from across the world: 'There's more to life than Seattle these days', says Arrowsmith.