AIM-listed cost-management consultancy Utilitywise has acquired a Czech-based contact centre services provider to expand its services into continental Europe.Utilitywise has agreed to buy Prague-based ICON Communication Centres, which provides multilingual contact centre services, for an initial €1.08m.The company has simultaneously agreed to expand its relationship with oil major Total's energy supply arm TGP, with two contracts implemented by the Prague operation with an initial term running to the end of 2016. One is a new deal to sell Total's products in Germany and the other deal is the completion of an existing French telesales contract, that will now be carried out by the Czech team. As part of the acquisition, Utilitywise will issue 30,701 new shares at 321.7p each, with a further €1.2m to become payable at the end of April 2015 in both cash and shares if certain criteria are met within the 2014 calendar year. In 2013, ICON reported revenue of £3m and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of £0.13m. Utilitywise Chief Executive Geoff Thompson said: "Our initial testing of the European market is showing early positive results and the addition of ICON to the group provides us with a European footprint from which to expand our services in Europe to the full intermediary procurement model that we employ in the UK. "While the opportunity in the UK remains large and our primary focus, we are encouraged with the positive reception to our offering in the European energy markets and look forward to pursuing this opportunity."Utility shares rose 4.9% to 335.69p by 12:34.NR