Secondary market distributor Phoenix Cellular is in administration
Staff Reporter
June 5, 2024
Phoenix Cellular, the secondary market distributor founded in 2015 by brothers Marc and Paul Walters along with Andrew Dulla has gone into administration.
Administrators Begbies Traynor were appointed yesterday (June 4) to handle the company’s affairs.
The Walters brothers were previously involved in recycling at Mobile Phone Xchange (MPX), a company they ran with their father Geoff, who passed away in 2012.
No further details were available at time of writing. However the Crewe-based company’s report for the the year ending 2022 indicated difficulties caused by the Ukraine conflict’s effect on energy and shipping prices and suppressed demand in the EU.
In 2002 there were substantial stock write downs due to the market value of stock dropping causing an operating loss of £2,5 million including £1.75 million restructuring costs.
Yet two years ago the company’s future seed assured supported by a £10 million finance facility from Praetura Commercial Finance to “confidently pivot sales online and take advantage of its wide-ranging opportunities for growth across Europe”.
Phoenix Cellular’s year-end report for 2022 referred to the Ukraine war as one of the factors that led to losses
Phoenix Cellular described itself as “Europe’s largest wholesaler of refurbished mobile phones you can be assured of a consistent and reliable supply of refurbished devices”. It was listed in the Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 after posting strong international sales ranked 65th in the standings, which measures Britain’s mid-market private companies for fastest-growing international sales.
It achieved four ISO accreditations (ISO 9001, 14001, 18001 and R2) when it was only three years’ old