Redstone offloads PBX services arm for £1.75m

Integrator to sell Marcom unit to rival Maintel as part of ongoing efficiency drive

Up for grabs: Redstone wants to divest its non-core businesses to boost profitability

Redstone is to sell off a chunk of its telecoms installation and maintenance business to competitor Maintel Europe for £1.75m.

The integrator has agreed the sale of various contracts and assets of its Marcom Communications arm. Also being offloaded is a small chunk of the wider Redstone Converged Solutions (RCS) business unit. For the year to the end of March, the units being sold banked EBITDA of about £300,000 on sales of £3m. Following the sale, Marcom will become a dormant company.

Maintel will take on 27 Marcom employees and 13 from RCS. Redstone will also implement a framework agreement where Maintel will provide maintenance services to the integrator's Avaya customer base.

Today's announcement forms part of Redstone's ongoing efficiency drive, which is being driven by recently appointed chief executive Tony Weaver and executive chairman Ian Smith. The buy-and-build veterans have been tasked with slashing debt through the disposal of non-core businesses and fostering a greater focus on the firm's most profitable revenue streams.

As part of the operational overhaul, the integrator recently sold off a £150m Building Schools for the Future contract in Birmingham for just £4m. Weaver claimed the Marcom sale was another step in the right direction.

"We are pleased to have completed another step in our strategy of refocusing Redstone's operating activities and releasing cash from non-core activities," he said.