Arena Group sets its sights on £24m turnover after acquisition
THE Arena Group has acquired two North West businesses as it looks to increase turnover to £24.5m from £19m.
The 25 year-old Wakefield document management group has acquired Docucentric Holdings, which consists of two companies across North Wales and the North West.
Those companies are Deeside-based B2 Business Systems, which was established in 1991 and Business Systems (North Wales) trading as Docucentric. One specialises in Xerox machines and the other in Toshiba and Canon reselling.
B2’s Peter Ryan will retain the position of managing director and play a key role in driving future growth in that region.
It is part of the Arena Group’s plans to expand geographically and will help in its aims of increasing turnover to £24.5m from £19m at present. It started in 1991 in a workshop in Hunslet with 10 employees and now headcount will reach more than 200.
The acquisition is Arena’s ninth. It has an existing network of offices in Wakefield, Garforth, Chesterfield, Grantham, Atherton and Stockton-on-Tees.
Adrian Fitzpatrick, Arena’s managing director, said: “This is the latest chapter in Arena’s rich, 25 year history of business growth founded on guiding principles of excellence in customer service, strong customer partnerships, technological expertise and a positive working culture.
Peter Ryan, managing director of DHL said: “With the same forward thinking outlook as our company, we believe that this new partnership provides synergy between the two brands together with opportunities of substantial growth well into the future.
“Arena Group will work with DHL to support a period of expansion going forward, with a view to increasing the DHL team by a further 10 members.”
A team from Yorkshire law firm Gordons’ corporate department led by partner, Jonathan Asquez, assisted by corporate solicitor, Amanda Hughes, advised Arena Group on both this latest acquisition and the company’s purchase of Acorn Business Machines last year.
Gordons’ Amanda Hughes said: “Arena Group’s management team have a clear plan to enable the business’s continued expansion. We are proud to have played our part in helping realise the plan so far with these two most recent acquisitions and look forward to seeing the next phase of the company’s growth.”
