SOUTH Coast based Deverill Group has been sold to software and IT services group CTG Holdings.

Deverill, which has South Coast offices in Southampton and Poole currently employs 130 staff - all of which will be retained.

In the year to June 30 1999 it had revenues of £15 million and an operating profit in excess of £1 million.

Bournemouth-based law firm Lester Aldridge and accountants Mazars Neville Russell acted on behalf of Deverill while solicitors Berwin Leighton, and accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers and Arthur Anderson acted for CTG Holdings.

Steven Jebb, partner in the corporate section of Lester Aldridge said: "Deverill supplies hardware and support services to clients such as PowerGen, Volvo and Barclays, and is particularly strong in the area of helpdesk, network and training support as an out-sourcing service to large corporates.

Deverill will become a fundamental part of CTG's services division."

Paul Maher, financial director of Deverill, said: "This is good for Deverill and its employees because CTG has access to the necessary resources for the future growth of the company, and is in a position to be able to offer security and opportunities to the existing staff."

CTG was formed in October 1997 by Cairnsford as a "buy and build" acquisition vehicle for software and IT services. Its customers include Tesco Stores, Boots the Chemist, Sharp Electronic and Cedel.

CTG has also acquired The Customer Engagement Company (TCEC) - a software house.

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