Moneypenny poised for acquisition drive

Moneypenny, the Wrexham-headquartered telephone answering specialist, is on track to make its first acquisition by the end of the year, its managing director has revealed.

Speaking to TheBusinessDesk.com Joanna Swash said the £25m-turnover company’s first bolt-on acquisition will be within a different sector that has a complementary SME base.

Swash, who took over as MD in October last year, having previously been commercial director, said: “We are looking to bolt on businesses – not another telephone answering service but something that will diversify what we do in terms of our service offering and our use of technology.

“We are looking at telecoms, live chat technology services, insurance and other complementary customer support services.

“We want to get the first one under our belt by the end of the year but there will be more acquisitions for future growth.”

The company appointed Mark Finlay as M&A and strategy director a year ago. Finlay joined from EY, where he worked in the firm’s corporate finance team.

The company, which has seen 20% year-on-year growth, employs 550 staff in the UK as well as around 40 staff in the US.

Finlay added that Moneypenny is looking at acquisition opportunities across the UK and in the US but that the first deal would be with a UK company with a turnover of less than £10m.

“It will be a meaningful acquisition but not of a size where it equates to 50% of the existing business,” he said.

“We are looking to diversify so we want a business with its own management team in place and that can grow in its own right but would benefit from having access to a bigger customer service base.”

The company launched its US operation in 2015, based in Charlestown, South Carolina on the east coast, but has plans to expand its footprint and Swash sees opportunities for sector consolidation.

She said: “We are a smaller player in a huge market in the US – we are just on the east coast now but we want a location on the west coast too.

“MoneyPenny is advanced in terms of our telephone answering service and our offer to the US market. There are lots of small players over there – we would bring consolidation and scale and a national brand.”