Southern Communications has seen rapid expansion over the past five years with a turnover growing from £10m to £32m. Growth has been attributed to a plan that has combined organic growth with a strong acquisition programme.
Livingbridge has taken a minority stake in Southern Communications and combined with a new, £36 million loan facility secured from Santander and HSBC, Southern Communications now have the acquisition firepower to match their aspirations, with plans to double revenues in the next 3-5 years.
As another impressive statement of intent, David Goldie has joined the board as Group Chairman. David, previously CEO at TalkTalk, has an outstanding reputation and track record in the market and will add even more depth to an already strong board of directors at Southern Communications.
David is reunited with Mat Kirk, Southern’s Commercial Director, having worked together at Carphone Warehouse/TalkTalk where they acquired 40+ businesses over a five-year period while growing Opal/TalkTalk. Paul Bradford CEO commented “With the investment from Livingbridge and the appointment of David, I feel like we have secured the perfect team to drive Southern Communications growth with very experienced hands helping us steer the growth of the business”.
Over the past three years Southern Communications has made eight acquisitions.
Paul Bradford, CEO, Southern Communications said “I am really excited about working with Livingbridge and David Goldie to continue the Southern Communications journey, driving innovative products and services – both to our existing customers and to new customers as we grow our business.”
Matthew Caffrey, Livingbridge Director, said "Southern Communications has a strong and consistent track record of both organic and acquisitive growth and has a fantastically well positioned product portfolio to service SMEs IT service and telecommunications needs. They are a real market leader in their field with recurring revenues of more than 90% and an industry leading customer retention rate. We’re looking forward to working with Paul and the team and helping them build on the strong progress the business has made to date.”