Kalms' Volvere on prowl for more deals

Volvere, the Aim-listed investment company chaired by the former Dixons chairman Sir Stanley Kalms, said it is considering other possible acquisitions following its debut deal in May.

Volvere is looking for similar businesses to the Vectra consultancy business it acquired for £2m in May. Jonathan Lander, the chief executive of Volvere, said he was looking at businesses offering consultancy in highly regulated industries.

He added that Vectra currently had £15m of turnover and that he was looking to boost that figure to £50m-£100m through bolt-on deals.

Vectra offers consultancy services to the nuclear, oil and chemical industries. Volvere believes this kind of work is more stable than straightforward strategy consulting where demand is currently weaker.

The comments came as Volvere announced half year results for the six months to June. These included just one month of the Vectra operation and showed turnover of £1.3m and a pre-tax loss of £190,000.

Sir Stanley said: "While success in turnaround investments is always difficult to predict, our early indications are positive."