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Dealers
February 14, 2013
MPC Westcliff buy takes acquisitions to seven in the past 12 months and raises Vodafone base to 55,000 connections
Olive Communications has completed the acquisition of B2B and consumer dealer Mobile Phone Centre (MPC) in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex – adding 3,500 Vodafone connections.
Around 30 per cent of the acquired base is consumer, but it will continue to be managed by Olive’s in-house account management team dealing with one to 10 connections.
The purchase takes Vodafone Platinum partner Olive’s total base to above 70,000, of which around 55,000 are connected on Vodafone.
It takes the number of Olive’s acquisitions (a mix of base and full ownership) to seven in the past year, it having sealed deals with MPC London, MPC Orpington, Connection 365, Pioneer, Parkway Telecom and Airwaves.
The deal with MPC, which is for an undisclosed fee, has seen Olive take full ownership of the business, which includes a retail store.
Olive chairman Mark Geraghty (pictured) told Mobile News the firm was in the process of transferring the customer base across to its own.
The store, plus MPC’s branding, will remain for the time being.
MPC Westcliff was run for 15 years by Julia Everns, who is now exiting the industry.
Geraghty also confirmed he is in the “closing stages” of agreeing to more dealer and base acquisitions, but he refused to provide further details.
Geraghty said: “It’s a good deal for us and continues our aggressive acquisition and growth strategy. We our continuing the momentum we had in 2012.
“We’ve got another couple of acquisitions going through as we speak.”
The deal was completed in the same week Olive moved to new larger premises in High Wycombe and former Azzurri Communications sales director Martin Flick began his role as MD of the firm.