Maindec and CSA Waverley combine under MCSA Group

Combined company will keep all offices and employees from both brands

Three years after Maindec acquired CSA Waverley, the two brands have merged into MCSA Group.

CSA Waverley was acquired in January 2013 but the two brands remained separate entities for three and a half years before being combined.

Peter Darraugh, finance director at MCSA Group, said there was "no burning desire" to change the two brands immediately.

"Both businesses were very successful; we were partnering together and had been for many years. It was a quite successful formula, so there was no burning desire at the time to change anything," he said.

"We have found over the last three and a half years that we have outgrown the number of systems in the business. So we were looking to have a common set of systems in place for both brands, and it just made sense to combine the companies under one heading."

When the firms first came together their combined revenue was £40m but Darraugh said that in 2016 revenue is due to hit £65m.

The two brands have 15 offices in total, with both companies based in Buckinghamshire. MCSA currently has 145 employees, and Darraugh said that the number of staff has been increasing steadily since the acquisition.

"There has been no reduction in staff or offices," he said. "We have been growing and increasing the number of staff we have. We see that continuing as we go forward."

Paul Timms, managing director of MCSA, added that the combined entity's teams are amalgamations of Maindec and CSA Waverley staff.

He explained: "We have been very careful about how we make sure we keep the quality and value that we see in our staff. We have taken management from CSA Waverley and from Maindec and created structures where both sets of staff feel valued and integrated into the whole group. Most teams in the company are an amalgamation of CSA Waverley and Maindec staff."

Timms added that the merging of the two brands has enabled the company to take on more apprenticeships and graduate programmes, bringing in staff who have only worked for the combined company.

MCSA did not cut down any vendor partners when it combined the brands because they had different customer bases, said Timms.

"Waverley was very healthcare, NHS focused," he explained. "Maindec had its own positions in local government but also had a high amount of business in the commercial sector. So bringing the two together, there was no streamlining needed."

Timms said that a string of acquisitions in the channel have seen "the big guys get bigger", but that the competitive landscape has actually benefited MCSA.

"There has been quite a lot going on in the channel, including Ingram buying Comms-care and Kelway acquiring CDW," he added. "The big guys have got bigger. They are still there and growing fast, but they are on a different strategy to us. The competitive landscape has favoured us in a way, in that we are the only independent in the SMB market space now."

The combined company's ambition going forward is to maintain its current standing in the market.

Timms added: "We want to maintain our standing in the marketplace as the go-to company for business infrastructure. We are not on an acquisition trail, we want to keep growing organically."