Bamboo deal with Foxconn will treble revenues to £105m

Subsidiary NC-IH inc will offer repair services across the UK and Europe

Mobile phone recycler Bamboo Distribution has signed a strategic partnership with Foxconn subsidiary NC-IH inc to set up and offer repair services across the UK and Europe – trebling annual revenues to £105 million.

The Hertfordshire-based firm currently provides handset refurbishment services in 17 countries, and has contracts with a number of UK operators, including Vodafone, via insurance partners such as Assurant, AIG and Ace.

The deal with NC-IH, the investment division of the world’s largest electronics contractor manufacturer Foxconn, will see the creation of co-funded distribution centre in an as yet undecided European location to provide repair services for the industry across Europe.

New jobs

Bamboo managing director Juney Mistiki (pictured left), claims the partnership, which will see staff numbers increased from 42 to 100, could see revenues treble within two years – although declined to discuss contracts.

He added the new distribution centre will have the capability of repairing up to 250,000 devices per month and refurbishing an additional 80,000, taking numbers close to half a million a year.

“Foxconn are very big in China and they are looking to expand into other markets, into distribution, repair, trade-in programmes, all things that fit in their brand,” Mistiki told Mobile News. “That’s why they approached us. We already have an established business in distribution and refurbishing handsets.

“We’re not big enough to compete with some of the bigger players in the market, we know that, so we need to build these relationships. Now that we’ve entered this partnership, we can really put some development into the relationship and expand other avenues. We’ve talked about a lot of opportunities with Foxconn, including distribution, supplying products, refurbishing handsets and expanding our portfolio together.”