Specialist tax relief firm Catax has acquired Fast Track, a leading R&D tax credit consultancy, for £2.5m in a deal which gives the company its first London base
Kensington-based Fast Track, under managing director Paul Foley, has acquired more than 1,200 clients over the past three years, across all business sectors. In that time the company has grown its revenue by 325%.
The deal boosts the size of Catax’s team by 17% to 92 and by bringing Foley’s expertise in-house, the firm says it aims to maximise growth of it new business pipeline.
Average first phase R&D tax credit claims in London are estimated to be 23% higher than the national average at £53,000.
Mark Tighe, Catax CEO, said: ‘The UK R&D market is still massively untapped and we are going after it tooth and nail.
‘Paul and his team at Fast Track do such a great job generating clients that an acquisition was the only sensible option. While operating under their own steam, it was only a matter of time before one of our competitors figured out how good they were and made them an offer themselves.
‘Now we have acquired them, we will be taking all that experience and all the lessons they have learned over the past four years, and replicating that knowledge across the company.
‘We are aiming to treble the size of Catax in the next three years.’
Report by Pat Sweet
