Contractor group swoops for accountancy specialist

Manchester city centre-based contractor services group Walker Smith Global has acquired London contractor accountancy specialist Income Made Smart (IMS) for an undisclosed sum.

Walker Smith supports thousands of contractors in both the UK and overseas.

IMS is the fourth acquisition for the company and further bolsters the group with previous acquisitions having increased its international customer base and enhanced its freelance product offering.

The latest acquisition will take its contractor numbers to more than 5,000 which puts it in the top 10 of contractor services businesses in terms of client numbers.

As with previous acquisitions IMS will continue to operate as a stand-alone brand with the increased scale of the group enhancing the client experience.

Management was supported by Fieldfisher London for legal advice and BDO provided diligence support.

Matthew Tyson, group managing director at Walker Smith Global, said: “With the continued growth of flexible working and with more and more people choosing to work this way we want to continue to be at the forefront of this exciting and fast growing market; making it as easy as possible for more workers to work in this manner.

“We were impressed by IMS’s growth and track record and felt they could seamlessly fit in with our existing group of businesses.”