Daisy’s £17m Redstone bid

14/08/2009

Daisy chairman Peter Dubens says the company aims to become one of the largest UK SME telecoms providers

Business telecoms consolidator Daisy Group has agreed to acquire the telecoms arm of bombed-out IT equipment provider Redstone for £17 million.

Daisy, which only joined AIM in July after reversing into the listed Freedom4 Group, will pay the entire sum in cash and hopes to complete the deal by 28 August. Redstone Telecom, which comprises the fixed-line telecoms arm of AIM-listed Redstone Plc as well as its mobile-focused subsidiary Symphony Holdings, made £74.7 million revenue and earnings of £4.6 million in the year to this March.

The deal comes just over a week after Daisy announced its initial purchases as a listed company – its 26th and 27th acquisitions since it was founded, including Freedom4 – the addition of AIM-listed AT Communications and privately held Eurotel for a combined £20 million. Both had appointed administrators just the day before eagle-eyed Daisy swooped.

Redstone chairman Peter Dubens says ‘The acquisition of Redstone is another step in pursuing our stated strategy of becoming one of the largest UK providers to the SME and mid-market of telecommunications services and solutions. Following our acquisitions of AT Communications and Eurotel, Daisy is now beginning to build some important scale.’

Shares in Daisy, up from the 30p Freedom4 was trading at back in March, rose 1.5p on the news to 97p, where they value the group at £247.8 million.