Maxima, which listed on AIM at 110p in 2004 and acquired Azur at float, is making its tenth subsequent acquisition, buying Eclectic from Glen Group in a deal set to augment earnings in 2009.

Eclectic is being bought for a total of £3m in cash, which Maxima will finance from its own cash flow and banking facilities. Eclectic supplies software, consultancy, support and training in the areas of business intelligence and corporate performance management (CPM), helping businesses (and organisations) improve performance. Clients include Costa Coffee, Scottish Power and National Australia Group.

Maxima chief executive Kelvin Harrison – the entrepreneur driving a consolidation mission in a fragmented IT services sector – points out that Maxima ‘has for many years had a business intelligence capability’. He believes that Eclectic ‘will transform us into leaders in the field of CPM’, with the deal ‘greatly’ increasing the company’s offering to enterprise software clients. Eclectic follows a raft of canny, well-integrated deals that have increased the group’s kudos with analysts and investors alike.

Maxima recently delighted followers with news of 39 new client wins since the start of the new financial year, reflecting the cross-selling benefits of acquisitions since then that have successfully bedded down. For the year to May, analysts are looking for profits of £11.1m and 30.1p of earnings from dividends, ahead of £13m and 35.3p for 2009.

On those estimates, the shares, recommended by Growth Company Investor at 160p, trade on forward multiples of 8 and 6.8. That’s too cheap, given the group’s earnings growth and high levels of recurring revenue. Having dropped from a 329.5p year’s peak, the shares look good value. Add.

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