Acquisition helps protect Daisy from ‘economic headwinds’

DAISY Group’s acquisition of an audio conferencing business in April has helped lift revenues at the firm during a period of tough trading.

In an interim statement the Nelson-based business telecoms outfit said the £28m deal to acquire Worldwide Group Holdings had mitigated, “against the impact of market pressures in our traditional revenue streams”.

In the six months to September 30 revenue grew by 1% to £178.1m.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) – and adjusted for exceptional items and share-based costs – were up 2.6% to £27.3m.

Overall the group made a pre-tax loss during the period of £13.8m, up from £8.9m. This was partly due to an amortisation charge on intangible assets of £33.5m. This related to customer lists acquired from 18 acquisitions since the reverse takeover in 2009.

Revenue from telephone networks grew to £81m from £73.8 last time. Data storage was static at £33.5m and mobile services declined from £51.2m to £48.5m.

Chief executive Matthew Riley said: “We are pleased to report the results for this interim period, in which we have seen an improvement in revenue and adjusted EBITDA, as well as a return to strong levels of free cash flow generation.

“Our acquisition of Worldwide Group Holdings Limited, in a growing area of the market, is performing well. The business has achieved an encouraging level of annualised revenue growth so far, and the change of ownership has been welcomed by key customers.

He added: “Whilst the sector continues to experience difficult macroeconomic and regulatory headwinds, we see our own performance balanced positively by our improving revenue mix and product diversification. Looking forward, we remain cautiously optimistic and expect to see  continued strong free cash flow generation during the rest of the current financial year.”

The group has net debts of £93.7m.