Business recovery and insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor has acquired a Manchester rival with a powerful online presence. Days after it bemoaned the depressed conditions of the insolvency market, the AIM company snapped up profitable Cooper Williamson for £0.9m in cash and shares.The Manchester-based corporate insolvency firm made a pre-tax profit of £0.4m from revenue of £1.7m in the year to May 31st. Begbies Executive Chairman Ric Traynor said: "The acquisition of Cooper Williamson is an exciting development for us, and is in line with our strategy to enhance our position as the UK's leading independent insolvency practice. "It will reinforce our presence in the North West and give us the opportunity to expand Cooper Williamson's already successful model and business rescue internet portal on a national scale." Cooper Williamson has a successful business rescue website at RealBusinessRescue.co.uk that has driven significant numbers of new clients across the UK, but the firm has largely only been able to fulfil cases in its local region. As part of a national group Begbies said it expected the new combination to benefit from these opportunities, even though the insolvency market remains flat.At its annual meeting, on Tuesday, the group pointed to government insolvency statistics that showed a 13% decline in corporate insolvency appointments for the first half, and said the market showed "no sign of improving", but that it had made year-on-year cost reductions of £2m that partially mitigated the reduction in revenue. After the AGM, analyst Robin Savage at broker Canaccord noted that the current insolvency cycle "has been markedly different from past cycles" as both the banking sector and tax authorities much more restrained about putting businesses into insolvency. "Although economic conditions are improving, in the immediate future we see no material catalyst for a transformation in the end market, with increasing interest rates and much reduced government involvement in the banking sector not a given, particularly with a General Election due in 2015. "In spite of the continued difficult end markets, we believe Begbies deserves credit for the actions it has taken - non-core and loss-making activities have been exited, debt has almost halved from its peak and the cost base has been realigned."Shares in BEG were down 1.4% to 35.5p at 10:10 on Wednesday.OH