11 April 2012
Capita has bought a translation business that acts for courts, prisons and police forces across the UK for £7.5 million and up to a further £60 million based on the next four years' profits.
Applied Language Services (ALS) employs 130 people and can call on a bank of 17,000 translators. It made a loss of £300,000 in the year to May on revenues of £10.6 million. Clients include Google, Sony and Caterpillar.
The firm has faced criticism from some translators worried by the outsourcing of translation services in the public sector to save costs.
Chief executive Paul Pindar said the deal took Capita into a new area of expertise that "will allow us to become a very strong player in the language services industry".
