Telecom services business rescued from administration

Leeds-based telco, Northern Telecom, has stepped in to rescue the business and assets of Toople Plc (and subsidiaries) in a deal with administrators FRP Recovery.

Toople’s customer and reseller relationships, including customers of Toople and Direct Market Services Limited (DMSL), will transition into the wider Northern Telecom group.

The transaction is the eighth for Northern Telecom in the last five years and secures provision of service for a range of small to medium sized business customers across the UK.

Toople PLC was listed on the London Stock Exchange in May 2016 and acquired DMSL in January 2020. Trading in shares was suspended on 19 October.

The deal sees the bulk of the assets and business of Toople return to private ownership.

Northern Telecom Group operations director, Simon Rogers, said: “The Toople business has underperformed over the last five years.

“A fundamentally flawed business model and questionable strategic decisions have masked what we believe to be a business with strong underlying financials.

“We’re pleased to welcome Toople customers into the wider group and we’re excited to enable the business to unleash its full potential”.

Northern Telecom Group managing director, Jon Graves, added: “We’re happy to finalise another two acquisitions to supplement our growth this year.

“We look forward to supporting each customer with their IT & Telecoms requirements.”