VT GROUP is to go on a £500m spending spree in the next six months, the boss of the Hampshire based support services giant has revealed.

With £303m from the sale of its Hampshire warship building business to BAE Systems in the company piggy bank, combined with a further £200m they’ve salted away, they are hungry for bottom of the market recession bargains.

The Botley based firm is looking to cash in on an expected surge in outsourcing by local and national government as budgets are slashed to tackle the UK’s tottering debt pile.

They reckon to save 30 per cent on average against the civil service and believe that is set to become increasingly attractive to cash-strapped authorities.

As exclusively reported in yesterday’s Daily Echo, VT chief executive Paul Lester said: “We are reviewing some potential acquisitions and we continue to look at adding companies that fit our business profile. We are strong in defence and education. We do work with the home office and could do more there and we also work with a lot of local authorities.

“In the States we lack some critical mass. We have got a business there worth half a billion and we would like to grow that.

“It could be one, could be two, three or four acquisitions. We have got a number of options.”

The half a billion scale of VT ‘s ambition emerged with VT’s half-year results, which saw a 16 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £44m.

Lester said: “We currently have £200m of cash in our bank account, our net debt has gone from £190m to £100m cash positive and so we have the capability to spend £400m to £500m in the next six months.”

The expansion plan is part of his long stated ambition to push VT into the FTSE 100 list of the UK’s biggest companies and compete with support services giants like Hampshire based Serco.

Lester said: “We are at 170 today, so we have got to go up the league table. I would have thought that in three years time we could be there.”