Four Daisy Distribution employees have successfully completed the West Suffolk Triathlon in a bid to get fit and lose the pounds.

The event, which took place on 28th September in Stowmarket, saw Managing Director Dave McGinn, Finance Director Jamie Macrae, Marketing Manager Lindsay Cooper and Connections Team Coach Leon Smith, attempt and complete their first ever triathlon.

McGinn, Managing Director of Daisy Distribution commented: "I am delighted with the team's efforts. Not only did we all finish, but none of us came last either!

"This has been particularly challenging for me as I suffer from psoriatic arthritis, so at times it was hit and miss whether I would actually be able to complete the event. However, the fact is that I really enjoyed it! I lost two stone in weight during training and am feeling much healthier."

The West Suffolk Triathlon comprised of a 300m swim, 18km bike ride and 5km run.

McGinn added: "It has been a fantastic experience, but it doesn't stop there. Our current aim is to identify some new recruits for the Daisy Distribution tri-team, continue our training and compete again next year."

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Steljes has entered into an exclusive partnership with education software developer Wordwall.

The two-year agreement sees Steljes appointed as the sole distributor of Wordwall's software and tablet solution in the UK.
 
Wordwall software enables educators to create, use and edit resources within the curriculum by developing interactive games and activities. The software will be included in all Steljes' interactive flat panels, whiteboards and projectors going forward.
 
Ian Goodhind, Commercial Director, Steljes, said: "This partnership brings new levels of interactivity and engagement to the classroom. When combined with the Wordpad 7B Android tablet, Wordwall offers an interactive and collaborative solution that is easy to use."
 
Wordwall 3.5, due for release in November, incorporates improved features, notably enhanced interactivity for tablet users, new templates and additional games.

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British small businesses are not getting the most from their broadband provider and need to demand better value, according to new research released from TalkTalk Business.

The survey of 1,000 small business owners, show 59 per cent are experiencing problems with their provider and only half of those surveyed feel they're getting good value for money.
 
The results, taken from TalkTalk Business's Value of Business Broadband survey, also revealed that over a quarter of small business owners are confused about the best package for their needs and more than one in five SMEs are looking to switch providers today.
 
TalkTalk Business has announced two new packages tailored to SMEs -Simply Broadband and Complete Broadband - both are said to offer savings compared to other packages on the market.
 
To help SMEs forecast more effectively and maintain a positive operating cash flow, every TalkTalk Business customer pays a fixed monthly fee and installation, equipment, UK-based support, WorkSafe Internet security are all included within the package, with no hidden extras.
 
Results from the Value of Business Broadband survey also reaffirmed the ever-increasing need for faster connection speeds amongst SMEs. Half of those surveyed felt the Government should prioritise intervening to reduce the cost of superfast fibre broadband. And in addition to reliability and price, fast connection speed, was amongst the top three purchasing considerations.
 
To help more British businesses benefit from Fibre broadband, TalkTalk Business' Simply Broadband and Complete Broadband customers can also upgrade to superfast Fibre for just £15 extra month.

TalkTalk Business has also announced it is an official supplier of the Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme, administered by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK). Any business based in one of the 22 SuperConnected Cities - whether a current TalkTalk Business customer or not - can apply for a free upgrade to Simply Fibre or Complete Fibre broadband, saving as much as £180 in the process.
 
"The research tells us loud and clear that Britain's businesses deserve better, and we couldn't agree more," said Charles Bligh, Managing Director, TalkTalk Business.
 
"Every business understands the benefits of fast, reliable business grade broadband, but few realise you don't have to pay above the odds for it. Our message to SMEs is clear - there is always a choice, demand more from your broadband provider."
 
As a further step to back SMEs, TalkTalk Business is also launching a new calling app that makes the business landline mobile.

Called Talk2Go, the app will be free to Simply Broadband and Complete Broadband customers, and allow business owners to pair their landline with up to five mobile devices.

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Following the relaunch of Daisy Wholesale's data proposition at the start of the financial year, including the roll out of a new pricing portal, the channel provider has witnessed a significant spike in its data business.

The wholesale provider has seen the number of partners ordering data services increase by 37% within a six month period with EFM, GEA and Fibre all increasing month-on-month.

Lee Broxson (pictured), Product Director for Data at Daisy Wholesale, commented: "Through enhanced negotiations with our carriers, we have been able to offer our resellers a much more competitive market solution.

"To maintain our offering we have been inviting our partners to challenge our commitment of 'best product, best price' through our new pricing portal.

"We have had strong feedback from our base and that is backed up by our quote volumes and the substantial rise in pipeline activity."

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Report by Philip Carse, Principal Analyst, Megabuyte:
Provider of telecoms services to small businesses XLN has changed owners, with Blackstone's GSO Capital Partners backing a secondary buyout from ECI for a reported £140-150m, or about 8x trailing EBITDA, mainly or wholly with debt. Ex-Travis Perkins CEO Frank McKay has been appointed Chairman. Could XLN be limbering up to pounce on United Utilities?

XLN is a South London-based provider of a full range of telecoms services to the smaller end of the business market, as well as related services such as credit card processing, insurance and energy. The most recently available accounts for the year to March 2013 showed EBITDA of £15.3m on revenues of £65.1m ECI backed an SBO from Zeus in September 2010 for £77m and this latest deal comes almost four years to the day.

Blackstone's GSO Capital Partners division has supported the latest SBO for an amount reported in the Sunday Times at £140-150m. Where GSO seems to be different is that it provides mainly debt; hence one assumes that XLN's founder Christian Nellemann has retained most if not all of the equity in this latest deal.

First thoughts
The timing of this deal comes as no great surprise given that ECI has been invested for four years. Including a special dividend paid in 2013, ECI claims a 3x return on its investment. With EBITDA of £15.3m in the year to March 2013 and expectations of double digit EBITDA growth, EBITDA of £17-18m for the year to March 2014 implies a trailing valuation of about 8x, in line with sector multiples.

On the assumption that most, if not all, of GSO's funding is in the form of debt, it also suggests that XLN will be fairly leveraged. However, the company is highly cash generative, with typically solid EBITDA conversion and minimal capex.

So what next for XLN? The stated aim at the time of ECI's investment of consolidating the UK small business telecoms market did not really happen with XLN buying just two small businesses - Shine Telecom for £2.6m and Card Processing Solutions for £3.8m -  with only the former representing consolidation of a similar business.

Christian Nellmann would probably have liked to buy its main independent challenger in the small business market - Universal Utilities - but was pipped to the post by private equity investor Vitruvian in May 2011.

With Vitruvian in its third year of ownership of Universal Utilities and with Blackstone presumably providing more firepower (it has $70bn in assets under management), could XLN be getting ready to pounce on UU?  Such a deal would double XLN's size at a stroke, with EBITDA increasing by perhaps 1.5x given UU's much better margins and making the business the undisputed number two behind BT in that part of the market.

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Commsworld has achieved the ISO27001 accreditation for Information Security.
 
ISO27001 was awarded to the Edinburgh based Communication specialists following a review by external auditors lasting 9 months, endorsing the security and strength of the company's data policies and processes.
 
Ricky Nicol, Chief Executive, said: "We are proud to have many recognised accreditations as well as awards for our contribution to the industry and this one in particular is very special as we believe there are very few firms of our size in Scotland who have received it.
 
"Gaining ISO27001 signifies an important step for us commercially as it will allow us to show recognised security credentials to business who insists on that level of accreditation, therefore opening the door to a number of potential new clients who we believe could benefit from our services.
 
"There are also many other benefits as it will allow us to retain and reassure current clients, reduce some costs such as insurance premiums and therefore increase our profitability."

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The next phase of Azlan's Momentum programme for Cisco resellers is under way with the addition of the Momentum Business Advisor team, a group of specialists dedicated to helping new Cisco Partners drive opportunities and grow sales.

Azlan has been running its Cisco Momentum programme throughout Europe for over two years, providing support and resources for new and developing Cisco resellers who are looking to build out successful Cisco business practices.

The new Advisor will serve as a central resource, providing expert assistance on every aspect of Cisco programmes, processes and incentives, as well as advice on training, specialisations and business development.

Gary Lloyd, Sales Director for Azlan's Cisco and EMC business unit, stated: "Momentum is great opportunity heavily sponsored by Cisco to develop tomorrow's key partners to enable Azlan to grow market share faster than any other distributor.

"Azlan is already seeing great results in other countries and I am keen to replicate in the UK."

As well as the Business Advisor team, Momentum partners have access to a number of Azlan tools and capabilities. These include an e-commerce portal that makes it easy for partners to create quotes, place orders and maximise Cisco Services renewal opportunities.

Resellers can also make use of a free registration service for Cisco SMARTnet support offerings, as well as Azlan's Cisco Product Selector, which helps identify the right product for SMB and mid-market customers, and the InTouch online ordering system, which ensures resellers get the best pricing available and can leverage the latest Cisco offers.

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A survey of London taxi drivers has found that 190,000 mobile phones are left in the back of the city's taxis every year, highlighting the need for businesses and individuals to back-up, encrypt and password protect their devices in the event of it falling into the wrong hands, and the data being stolen, compromised or abused.

There are around 24,000 black cabs in London and the study found that a taxi driver finds an average of eight mobile phones in the back of their cab every year.

Half of the devices found in taxis are completely unlocked, meaning anyone who finds the phone is able to gain access to the confidential information it holds.

Mark James, security specialist at ESET, said: "Today we use our mobiles for a multitude of tasks, whether it's our online banking or connecting to corporate email systems, and we do not want our devices to fall into the wrong hands.

"Our study shows that despite the huge publicity cybercrime receives in the media today consumers still do not see themselves as a real target. This is naïve and wrong.

"Cybercriminals are well aware of the fact that our mobiles contain connections to corporate networks and sensitive information and they will take advantage of this. Consumers should as an absolute minimum use a password to protect their device in case it is ever lost, however a good security posture would include encryption and a remote wipe facility."

Other items left in the back of taxis included:

• The chief of NATO's briefcase
• An inflatable banana
• A dog
• 400 packets of jelly
• £100,000 worth of Stocks and Bonds
• a pair of false teeth

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Brendan Lynch has joined Azzurri Communications as Sales Director, moving from Eircom where he was working as a consultant to the CEO in Ireland.
 
Lynch has a successful track record of leading teams in the telecoms sector across the UK, Europe and India, and previously worked as Director of Business and Partner Markets at Virgin Media Business, where he was responsible for developing and executing the company's sales strategy across both enterprise and wholesale markets.

Chris Jagusz, Azzurri's CEO, commented: "Brendan's industry knowledge and insight will be invaluable in helping us to further solidify our position."

Lynch added: "Azzurri is well positioned to help our customers address their business challenges by effectively exploiting the latest technology developments while managing and reducing their costs, and I'm relishing the opportunity to get started."

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The deadline for the proposed take-private of Daisy Group by a consortium led by Daisy CEO and founder Matt Riley has been extended to 5.00pm on 20th October 2014, by which time the consortium must either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Daisy in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code, or announce that they do not intend to make an offer for Daisy, in which case the announcement will be treated as a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the Code applies.

A statement released today said, 'This statement is being made by the Company without the prior agreement of the Consortium and there can be no certainty that a firm offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any offer might be made.'

In September Riley made a tentative take-private approach for the business at 190p per share backed by investors Toscafund and Penta Capital.

At the time Philip Carse, Principal Analyst, Megabuyte, said: "A 190p offer would value Daisy's equity at about £490m, giving an enterprise value of £600m, or about 10.3x current year consensus EBITDA. This is comfortably above the 6-9x of most of its UK B2B peers, though below Alternative Networks M&A-boosted 13.2x (though still 11.3x financial year 15).

"One clue to what Daisy may seek to do if privately owned comes from the other UK comms holdings of its backers - Phoenix IT and Six Degrees. A combination of the three would create a £600m UK business comms and IT player, behind only BT and Vodafone/CWW."

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