Acquisitions bring profit for Anite

Much of the company's good fortune comes on the back of a series of acquisitions and a push into the US.

Turnover for the half-year to October 31 was £83.5m, up on last year's £74.9m.

Alec Daly, Anite chairman, saidin a statement: "All of our divisions continue to trade strongly. Our recent acquisitions are expected to contribute significantly and the second half has begun well. All divisions continue to show strong organic growth."

Last year, Anite bought: Datavance, a 350-strong French IT consultancy specialising in telecoms and banking, for £29.9m cash and shares and a further earn-out of £20.2m Carus, which sells ferry reservation systems to Nordic operators, for £.3m in shares and up to £5m in earn-out Syzygy, which has a telecom call analysis tool, for £.2m and a £3.5m earn-out and Calculus, which supplies billing solutions for telecoms operators, for £15m in cash and shares and a £35m earn-out.

The company's core consultancy business contributed the bulk of revenues at £47.3m, up 20 per cent on last year's first half. But telecoms showed the strongest growth at 123 per cent to £11.6m. The telecoms division has taken orders worth £2m in the US since the establishment of an office in Chicago last July.