Satellite Solutions Worldwide Group PLC (LON:SAT) has added a fixed broadband arm to its business with the acquisition of Quickline in Lincolnshire.
Already one of the UK’s largest suppliers of wireless broadband packages to remote and inaccessible areas, the acquisition will make it the only supplier of both alternatives in the country.
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Consideration is £5mln, comprising cash of £3mln and £2mln worth of shares, with an additional £2mln to be injected into the business to bolster its working capital position.
A placing to raise £8mln at 7p will fund the acquisition plus give some firepower for additional deals.
Quickline generated revenue of £2.3mln and underlying profits [EBITDA] of £0.3mln in the year to March and will contribute to earnings in the year to November 2018.
Satellite Solutions currently has no fixed wireless presence in the UK, but does in Norway and Australia following acquisitions in those countries in 2016 and the addition of Quickline will enable it to offer similar packages in the UK for ‘last mile’ connections.
Quickline has already received grants from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), a government backed scheme to roll-out high speed broadband in areas of the UK that are hard to access.
Andrew Walwyn, chief executive, said: "Whilst we are already the leading domestic satellite broadband provider in the UK, the acquisition of Quickline further diversifies our revenue base and broadens our last-mile broadband technology offering.
“The growing appetite for internet connectivity appears unstoppable and we are seeing continued demand for our last-mile broadband solutions, reflected by the growth in our customer numbers. “