Outsourcing firm Mitie buys telecoms tower services firm P2ML for £2.1m as it eyes a slice of profits from 5G rollout
- Deal expands further its telecoms division after acquisition of Dael Telecoms
- It leaves Mitie to benefit from tower owners upgrading their infrastructure
- Cornerstone, a joint venture between Telefonica and Vodaphone, is a customer
Scandal-hit outsourcing firm Mitie has struck a deal to buy P2ML, a company that designs and maintains telecoms towers, for £2.1million.
The acquisition will leave Mitie positioned to benefit from major network operators and tower owners upgrading their infrastructure to allow for the roll-out of new technologies like 5G.
The outsourcer said the deal will expand further its telecoms division after its acquisition of Dael Telecoms – a provider of services for telecoms infrastructure – in August last year for £15million.
Mitie has struck a deal to buy P2ML, a company that designs and maintains telecoms towers
Analysts at Peel Hunt said the deal provided an opportunity via UK tower company Cornerstone, a joint venture between Telefonica and Vodaphone, which was already a customer of all three firms – PM2L, Dael and Mitie.
On its website, P2ML says it has taken on much of the work to refurbish and upgrade Cornerstone’s ‘ageing network, including many structures approaching the end of their design life’.
Mitie, which is being investigated over its lucrative Government contracts to run immigration centres, expects the acquisition to boost profits in the first year.
Glasgow-based P2ML raked in revenues of £3.9million last year, while operating profit was £500,000.
Andy Train, managing director of Mitie Telecoms, said: ‘The acquisition of P2ML is aligned with our growth and margin enhancement strategy to invest in companies in high growth markets with high margins, and provides an opportunity to further broaden our scale and expertise in the telecoms sector.’
Mitie shares rose 1.6 per cent to 56p in morning trading on Friday.
Earlier this month, the stock tumbled 10 per cent after the Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into contracts for two immigrant removal centres.
The watchdog said it was looking into ‘suspected anti-competitive conduct’ concerning the government process used to find companies to operate services at the Heathrow and Derwentside sites.
This is the latest scandal in recent weeks at Mitie after it emerged that some of its staff had been sharing racist WhatsApp messages. That led to the suspension of eight employees.
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