Daisy still on acquisition trail

Firm endures pre-tax loss for 2009's first nine months but claims integration continues apace and more deals will follow

Matthew Riley: we are continuing to assess further opportunities to grow market share through acquisition

Despite posting a pre-tax loss for the first nine months of the year, ambitious telecoms firm Daisy Group is targeting more acquisitions.

For the nine months to 30 September, the company posted revenue from continuing operations of £30.9m. Loss before tax for these operations stood at £2.1m. As of 30 September, the firm had £22.5m cash in the bank.

Daisy's year to date has been marked by a series of acquisitions, the biggest of which being its reverse takeover of broadband firm Freedom4 Group in July. The move saw Daisy, Freedom4 and Vialtus Solutions, rolled up into one entity in a deal worth more than £200m in cash and shares.

The following month, Daisy snapped up Eurotel, AT Communications and Redstone Telecom in the space of a fortnight for a combined total of £36m. Daisy indicated the integration process will be complete by the year's end. The Telegraph reports that the process, coupled with the divestment of its wireless business, will result in 300 job losses.

Daisy chief executive Matthew Riley projected that, for the 12 months starting on 1 April, his firm would bank £37m EBITDA on sales of £225m. He added that he wanted to build on his current SME and mid-market customer base of 65,000 through more buy-outs.

"The strategy of consolidating the currently fragmented UK SME and mid-market telecoms sector remains the right one for Daisy," he said. "While the integration of the acquired businesses remains our immediate focus, we are continuing to assess further opportunities to grow market share through acquisition."

"With the integrations going to plan, the systems and processes now in place provide a solid foundation for the future acquisitive growth."