Andrew Thomis, Chief Executive officer of Cohort said “The acquisition of Chess represents a significant expansion for Cohort, adding a profitable and growing fifth standalone business to our portfolio. It is highly complementary to our core capabilities in defence and security, underpinned by long term contracts with quality customers and a strong order pipeline”.

Graham Beall CEO of Chess Dynamics, commented

“Chess has been approached by numerous companies over the years, attracted by our fast-innovative growth, but few if any met the exacting standards we were looking for in a parent. Our success is due to the outstanding team of people we have at Chess, so protecting the teams, our brands and our independence was essential. The Cohort Group met those exacting standards.

Cohort is an AIM listed parent company of a number of independent, innovative, agile and responsive businesses. They provide a wide range of services and products for British and international customers in similar markets to us and are as passionate about small growing independent companies that place the customer first, as we are.

As a result of this transaction there will be no changes to operations or locations and the management team remain the same. There will be benefits from being part of the Cohort Group – being able to share knowledge and complementary compatibilities with the other companies in the Group, in addition to access to a wider market.

This is a significant step towards securing the future growth plans for the Chess Dynamics, bringing new and exciting capabilities to our military and security customers and we are excited to be joining Cohort plc”.