IT training software play iTrain has announced the acquisition of Applied Interactive, a deal that should immediately enhance earnings.

To fund the acquisition, capped at £1.2m, iTrain is paying an initial £1.03m comprised of cash, new shares and the repayment of outstanding loans. There's also a deferred element conditional on 2005 sales targets for Applied Interactive. Broker Corporate Synergy has also raised £1m through a placing at a slightly discounted 8p, partly to satisfy the cash element of the deal, which chairman Derek Moore insists is an excellent one. Applied Interactive supplies similar software to iTrain and will boost its UK business. The acquisition should also complement iTrain's sales efforts in Germany, which is the group's biggest market. Enticingly for future earnings, Applied Interactive made £138,000 on £436,000 sales last year. And iTrain itself, a recent Growth Company Investor recommendation at 9.75p, enjoyed a near 50% sales hike in its first half to June to £440,000, with losses dropping 67% to £30,000. Old forecasts for the year to December from Corporate Synergy suggested profits of £600,000 off a top-line £1.6m, giving earnings of 0.8p – but investors can expect updated estimates once the deal is completed in a week or so. We still like the iTrain story and, on a forward p/e of 12.3, we urge investors to stay on board.