Elite buys £4m turnover firm

ELITE Telecom has completed its tenth deal in six years with the acquisition of Stoke-based Qualitel Voice & Data.

Elite, based in Chorley, said the deal would add revenues of £4m and an extra 600 customers. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Qualitel, which was owned by Mike and Julie Ridgeway, Richard Reeves and Andrew Smith, has 20 staff.

Elite’s chief executive Matt Newing said: “The acquisition of Qualitel was of particular interest to us because of their great customer base and strong mobile offering including workflow applications, which we see as a huge growth area.

“This is our second acquisition of a premium Vodafone partner, strengthening our mobile offering to business clients and reinforcing our significance to the mobile networks.”

Mr Ridegway said: “Our products greatly complement Elite’s existing solutions and services so we can now bring even better communications and mobile services to UK businesses.”

Elite was advised on the deal by Gareth McIntegart of law firm DLA Piper. Murray Macnab of Ellis-Fermor & Negus advised Qualitel.