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LONDON (Alliance News) - Maintel Holdings PLC said Friday it has agreed to buy Azzurri Communications Group for GBP48.5 million in a reverse takeover, as it reported growth in both revenue and profit in 2015.
The telecoms and data services company said it will fund the acquisition partially through a placing of 3.4 million shares at 700.00 pence per share, raising GBP24.0 million. Shares in Maintel were up 6.4% at 749.99 pence Friday afternoon.
The placing was "significantly oversubscribed", according to Chairman John Booth in a statement.
Maintel added further funding will come from around GBP36.0 million of new debt with The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, with the option to borrow up to a further GBP20.0 million. Maintel said this will replace its existing facilities with Lloyds Bank PLC, which will be repaid and terminated.
Weybridge, Surrey-based Azzurri Communications provides communication services for small and medium sized enterprises in the UK, largely focusing on cloud, data, mobile unified communications. It posted revenue of GBP101.3 million for the year ended June 30 and pretax loss of GBP4.5 million, versus a profit of GBP50.5 million for the same period a year earlier.
Maintel noted it expects annualised cost synergies of GBP4.6 million from the acquisition by the end of full year 2017. It expects the deal to be immediately earnings enhancing.
As the acquisition is a reverse takeover, it will be subject to shareholder approval, and Maintel's shares will be suspended from trading on AIM until it has published an admission document and circular convening a general meeting.
finnCap Ltd is acting as broker in connection with both the placing and the acquisition.
Maintel also posted its results for the year ended December 31, with pretax profit rising to GBP4.2 million in 2015 from GBP3.8 million in 2014 on the back of an increase in revenue to GBP50.6 million from GBP41.9 million.
Maintel said revenue rose 24% in its managed service and technology division, whilst its network services division saw 17% growth.
The company hiked its full-year dividend to 29.3 pence from 20.9p in 2014.
Maintel also announced its Finance Director Dale Todd will step down, effective immediately, and will be replaced by Mark Townsend, who joined the board in January as a consultant.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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