NEWS
www.comms-dealer.com
Comms channel Adept reports� rst
for converged sales strong EBITDA
VOICE distributors and resellers “They’re joining courses for a num- BUSINESS comms provider Adept
have been quicker to react to the ber of reasons. They need technical Telecom has revealed that revenues
benefits of convergence than their expertise for modern day technolo- are down year-on-year, but absolute
data counterparts, says Nimans’ gies in voice over IP and SIP,” com- EBITDA is being maintained at
Sales Director, Phil Adams. mented Adams. last year’s level through operational
Speaking to Comms Dealer at “And they’re the trusted advisor cost control. Cashflow remains
the launch of Aastra’s new 800 to a huge database as maintainer strong, also boosted by improved
software PBX, he said: “The data of an existing LAN infrastructure. customer cash collection.
world has been slow to react to the They know that they can tap into In numbers, notes Philip Carse,
opportunity. There’s almost a fear that base and take advantage of comms analyst at industry watcher
of running voice across the net- their relationship” Telecom Equity, this means that
work. It’s foreign to data VARs. Paul Johnson, Sales Director compared to the year to March
“For example, it’s not going to at Aastra, expects the 800 to be a 31st 2009, current annualised rev-
cause a crisis because your email popular choice with data resellers enues are running below £28.6m,
is coming through slowly, but you making the transition to voice. with EBITDA being maintained at
can’t have that with voice. “This type of solution allows around £3.5m.
“I’m seeing a move from the
Phil Adams
data VARs to treat it as pure IP,” Net debt in the last financial
Ian Fishwick
data distributors, but the voice However, Adams noted that he stated. “They don’t have to put year was reduced by £0.5m, despite
people have been much quicker at the number of data resellers join- a box on the wall – you just install non-recurring costs of £1.3m, sug- line with the sector, while the 3.7x
getting IP aware than IT and LAN ing training programs for voice the software on a PC. It’s much gesting that at least £1.5m debt adjusted PE is towards the bottom
resellers adopting voice.” has risen in the last few months. easier for them.” See page 12 reduction is possible for 2009/10. end. All things being equal, and
Carse commented: “As one of assuming no market valuation mul-
Rise in Siemens license sales
the more highly levered stocks in tiple depression, the firm’s equity
the sector, with £10.8m of net value should benefit from the strong
debt against EBITDA of c£3.5m, ongoing net debt repayment.”
SIEMENS Enterprise Communi- Mark Straton, Senior Vice “The global success of our Adept Telecom is rightly focusing Ian Fishwick, Adept’s MD, said:
cations Group (SEN Group) has President of Strategic Marketing, OpenScape platform in the midst on profitability and cashlow gen- “Every company I talk to in the
seen a 28% year-over-year rise in SEN Group, commented: “Many of the current economic crisis is eration rather than growth.” fixed line sector is experiencing a
OpenScape Voice licenses thanks to of our customers are deploying in further proof that smart commu- The company already achieves drop in call volumes as economic
global wins during H1 2009. excess of 5,000 user seats. nications solutions can help enter- some of the best EBITDA margins activity has declined. We are abso-
This increase comes as compa- “This demonstrates that organi- prises significantly reduce costs, for a non-infrastructure telco, at lutely determined that this will have
nies continue to choose open, soft- sations fully understand the value while remaining competitive and approximately 12%, and also has no impact on our profitability.
ware-based communications solu- of software-based communications preparing for the future.” one of the better cash generation “Strong cost control and cash
tions designed to help reduce costs, and are moving beyond the proof Early adopters have been a track records. generation is critical in this envi-
increase productivity and remain of concept stage to full, enterprise- strong contributing factor to the Carse added. “The current year ronment. We are pleased that every
competitive, said the vendor. wide deployments. overall growth in sales worldwide. valuation of 5.3x EBITDA is in month our debt reduces.”
Phone Co-op boosts customer
base with Avoco UK acquisition
THE Phone Co-op has acquired there was a good match between
County Durham-based telecoms our two organisations.
reseller Avoco UK. “At the same time, we’re delight-
The deal sees almost 300 cus- ed to be able to offer Avoco’s cus-
tomers across over 400 sites, mainly tomers the opportunity to become
in the North East, move to The members of the co-operative and to
Phone Co-op. They include a range share in our success as we grow.”
of SMEs, plus a number of local Martin Oswell, founder and
A TRIO of runners from Daisy Group – Simon Foster, Janine Murray
authorities and public sector agen- Chief Executive of Avoco, added:
and Emily Molloy – successfully completed the Great North Run cies. The Phone Co-op has much “We had established a strong busi-
for the first time raising £2,000 for their respective charities. Foster
experience in these areas. ness, but to serve our customers’
said: “I have taken part in a number of 10k runs over the last 12
Vivian Woodell
These customers will con- interests in the longer term we
months and have managed to get my time down to 49 minutes,
tinue to receive first line support Vivian Woodell, Chief Executive needed greater scale.
but a half marathon was taking things to another level.” Murray
added: “People from houses on the route were handing out ice
from former Avoco staff based in of The Phone Co-op, commented: “The Phone Co-op will enable
lollies, their children were giving high fives. Such a level of support
Consett, but will now have access “The addition of Avoco’s customers them to keep their telecoms costs
really helps you to get over that finish line.” Molloy signed up for to a wider range of services, while to our business is an important step down and enjoy high levels of ser-
the race just three months ago. “I was nervous because I also had
benefiting from The Phone Co-op’s in our development. In pursuing vice, while taking full advantage of
a leg injury,” she said. “But I knew I had to get to the finish line.”
greater buying power. this opportunity it was clear that a wider product portfolio.”
8 COMMS DEALER OCTOBER 2009 www.comms-dealer.com
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