Focus Group intends to become one of the largest telco resellers in the UK through its M&A strategy, according to its Head of M&A, Tom Jones.

Backed by Bowmark Capital since last year, Brighton-based Focus Group merged with Glasgow-based Resource Telecom last year and has acquired three companies so far in 2021: swcomms, High Net, and GB Technologies.

Jones joined the organisation from Knight Corporate Finance in January to spearhead its M&A strategy. He told UC Today that part of his remit is finding companies that help grow Focus’ geographic footprint across the UK.

“Our strategy is to become one of the largest telco resellers in the UK by building out our national presence,” he said.

“There is absolutely enough for us to go after in the UK and we’ve got lots of growth to do here before we start thinking about international expansion”

“We’re very careful about who we partner up with and if we’re interested in the deal we don’t mess around, we want to get deals done – that’s exactly how we work as a business.”

Having established a foothold in Scotland with Resource and GB Technologies, Jones is now on the lookout for companies that can help cement Focus’ presence in the Midlands and North East, to provide a “backbone” to its operations nationwide.

As well as geographic presence, Jones is also keen to bolster the company’s IT capabilities. He highlighted the acquisition of cybersecurity firm Infosec last year as an example of the skills it is seeking to add to its portfolio.

“The world is definitely converging and unified comms is where we want to position ourselves,” he continued.

“We bought Infosec [which gave us the] capability to provide cyber solutions to our customers and to our reseller channel. This is proof of what we might look at in the future:  finding a really good business that that does something for our customers.”

He added that this year’s acquisitions were about establishing a presence in other areas of the UK, but next year might see the firm focus more on adding to its portfolio.

“When I was with Knight, it kind of felt like Focus came out of nowhere and become one of the bigger players in the market quite quickly,” he noted.

“Now that we do have that national presence, we think ‘let’s go and scale the business this year’, and I think we’ll probably be a little bit more focused on product and more strategic acquisitions going into next year.”

 

 



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