Telecoms company rings up the right numbers for rapid growth

INVESTMENT in technology and people is helping a West Yorkshire-based telecoms company achieve “unprecedented” growth, according to its chairman.

CommsProvider is forecasting a turnover of at least £3m, most likely £4m, in its current financial year, up from nearly £1m in the year to the end of April 2013, and £500,000 the previous year. The firm said that its profits are “healthy”.

Mike Bower told the Yorkshire Post that the firm is also looking to make further acquisitions after buying Yorkshire mobile phone recycling company MPRO (Mobile Phone Recycling Organisation) last year.

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He said the company has the funds available, adding: “We have made it known within the industry that we are in acquisition mode.”

The corporate communications firm said that its performance this year has been achieved through “organic business growth, acquisition and investment in technology and people”.

In tandem with expansion, CommsProvider’s workforce has grown too.

The business now employs more than 30 people and, on the back of recent progress, is actively seeking to recruit additional sales, marketing and technical staff. Mr Bower said that he expects to take on an additional 10 people in the next 12 months.

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Over 12 months, CommsProvider said it has seen its role evolve from providing specific maintenance services to Samsung telephone systems clients to becoming a full service telecoms company, offering account management, support, repair and fault resolution on both fixed line and mobile services.

Mr Bower said: “The vast majority of our growth is in managed services, an area frequently overlooked by businesses, as boundaries between telecoms and IT can often be blurred.

“We have recognised that convergence plays a key part in corporate communications. This puts us in a strong position to deliver cutting edge solutions for our clients, removing the headaches often experienced by companies who manage their own telecoms hardware and billing services.

“Our progress has been achieved without debt and without any support funding whatsoever. Our own private investment to date is over £1m.

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“We now have a nationwide client base and have sought to develop the strongest supply chain relationships delivering customer-focused solutions and managed packages that actually save our clients money, typically 25 per cent of actual spend.”

The company was established in 2010 by telecoms entrepreneurs Mr Bower and Luke Hayes, who together have 45 years of combined experience building former West Yorkshire telecoms group Link Telecom.

CommsProvider operates from purpose-built 10,000sq ft premises near Halifax in Calderdale.

It remains one of only two Samsung Platinum Service partners in the UK, operating its own in-house service centre, and has also developed accreditations and partnerships with O2, T Mobile and Orange as a business specialist provider.

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Last year, CommsProvider acquired Yorkshire mobile phone recycling company MPRO (Mobile Phone Recycling Organisation), established in Keighley in 2007.

It acts an approved repair centre for all makes of mobile phones and smart phones, and a recycling service offering to purchase redundant handsets from businesses, organisations and consumers, so preventing old mobile phones going into landfill.

MPRO founder and managing director Johann Shepherd remains at the helm of the business, which the group said is “going from strength to strength and is proving a powerful addition to the CommsProvider armory”.

Mr Shepherd said: “As a group, we can now offer a full end-to-end service. We maintain and repair everything – from the office system to the mobile fleet.”

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The £1m head office in Myltholmroyd is also home to The Continuum, which falls under the CommsProvider remit and provides a 130-seat disaster recovery and business continuity centre.

Firms and organisations from Manchester, Leeds, Bradford and York are clients of the disaster recovery arm, which the group said is also “growing rapidly”.