Trustmarque, the York IT company which provides software solutions for businesses and public-sector organisations, has major expansion plans following a £43 million management buyout.

The company, which employs 135 people in Monks Cross, York, has its eye on a number of potential targets for acquisition, said chief executive Scott Haddow.

He said the new investors, Dunedin, which bought the company last week, would support their ambitious plans and provide a return for Lloyds Development Capital (LDC), which has backed the company since 2006.

He said: “The aspirations of management were much greater and haven’t dwindled in the last four years. It was the right time to bring fresh investors in. Dunedin have an enviable track record of buy-and-build strategies. It is a great time to re-energise the business with a new investor for the next three to five years.”

He said they were particularly looking at acquisitions to “turbo-charge” its services and solutions business.

In May 2011, the company bought Hertfordshire-based business Nimbus Technology Systems for an undisclosed sum to increase its expertise in cloud (web-hosted) service delivery.

Mr Haddow said there was no change in their strategy but the company was targeting “more substantial” acquisitions. He said with Dunedin on board they were ready to go as soon as the found the right deal.

“Nimbus was very small by what our aspirations are today,” he said. “We are looking for something not too different from what we deliver today.

Rather we’re looking to bolster what we do have. There is a skills shortage and we have got a capacity issue, which means we’re struggling to fulfil contracts we have already made. And it’s going to get worse the more successful that we become.”

He said recruiting a large number of people from scratch could take up to a year, including training.

“We have made the decision to acquire an established business that’s got the skills and resources we need and that cuts the time considerably. It also brings in a profitable part to our bottom line.”

The company will still grow organically, he said, with five new employees already starting next week.

By the end of the financial year in August it expects to increase its staff from 185 to at least 200, mainly in York, and create another 30 to 40 new jobs next year.