Midwich agrees £27.5m acquisition of Nimans

Audio visual distributor Midwich Group has entered a binding agreement to acquire Nimans and its subsidiaries from Nycomm Holdings, it announced on Tuesday, for up to £27.5m in cash.

The AIM-traded firm described Nimans as a UK-based specialist distributor of unified communications, telecoms, collaboration and audio visual technologies.

Based near Manchester, Nimans was founded in 1981 and had a “strong presence and reputation” in the UK telephony hardware market.

Midwich said that in recent years, it had expanded into new market areas including unified communications, VOIP solutions, security and networking.

Key brand relationships include Yealink, Jabra, and BT, with the company trading with more than 2,500 telephony, IT and retail customers, employing over 200 staff.

In its latest audited financial statements for 2020, Nimans generated consolidated revenues of £114.3m and profit before tax of £5.8m.

Net assets, excluding net cash balances, totalled £11.4m on 31 December 2020.

The total consideration of £27.5m would be paid in cash, with the initial consideration of £16.5m payable on completion, followed by two fixed instalments of £5.5m each after 12 and 24 months, respectively.

Midwich said the deal would be funded from its existing facilities, and was expected to be earnings enhancing in the 2022 calendar year.

The transaction was being undertaken on a cash-free, debt-free basis, and completion remained subject only to FCA approval, expected in the first half.

“Nimans is a long-established business with a great reputation for technical excellence, customer service and logistics,” said Midwich group managing director Stephen Fenby.

“Its traditional telecoms market has experienced significant change in recent years, bringing with it new revenue opportunities, which the company has developed strongly, in areas such as unified communications, video conferencing, security and networking.”

Fenby said Midwich was growing its unified communications offering, adding that Nimans would bring further opportunities in terms of skills in new product and technology areas, service offerings to the trade, a large new customer base and new vendor relationships.

“I believe that the combined skill sets and capabilities of Midwich and Nimans bring a unique offering into the market with the ability to provide complex solutions involving multiple technologies.

“I look forward to welcoming the whole Nimans team into the Midwich Group.”

At 0833 GMT, shares in Midwich were up 4.17% at 625p.