Partner Article

Director departs as BNS sold

The founder of one of the region’s largest telecoms companies yesterday said the firm is in good hands, following its £10.5m sale and his official departure from the company.

Telecoms group Daisy has acquired Northumberland-based BNS for £10.5m to compliment its services, which looks after 30,000 businesses throughout the UK.

Garry Moat, former director of BNS, yesterday told bdaily he’ll now be concentrating solely on his property company, but has predicted a bright future for his old colleagues

He said: “The takeover is now complete.

“I’d like to wish all the staff at BNS the very best. They’ve all worked extremely hard over the last 15 years and I’m sure they’ll do very well with Daisy, they’re a solid company and the future looks good.”

BNS, which will now be controlled from Daisy’s Lancashire HQ, has 8,000 customers across 22,000 business sites, with 42,000 fixed line connections and it currently handles over 30 million calls per month.

Meanwhile, Matthew Riley, who formed Daisy in 2001, has joined the new board as director.

He said: “This makes great sense for Daisy, given the time scale and position of BNS within the UK SME market.

“This acquisition will strengthen our position in the reseller market and is another step towards the group consolidating this fragmented sector.”

Daisy reported revenues of £30.9m and pre-tax losses of £2.1m in the nine months to September 2009.

In May of the same year, BNS delisted from the AIM market saying it has been undervalued due to poor market conditions and investors having a weak understanding of the firm’s services.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .