Restore bolsters Apple business with Bookyard buy

Recycling specialist Restore has made its second acquisition of the year as it continues to bolster its position in the market.

Restore Technology, a business unit of Restore, has picked up Liverpool-based Apple recycling and spare parts specialist The Bookyard.

The Bookyard is a 15-year-old business that focuses on Apple recycling and parts, and runs a couple of e-commerce sites – www.mac2cash.com and www.click4mac.com – which gives its countrywide coverage. The business also supplies parts to customers globally to keep their Apple kit running.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but The Bookyard was described as a well-invested and profitable business that is expected to generate revenues of approximately £1.2m per annum.

Restore added more explanation for investors, indicating that Apple laptops and PCs represented around 10% of tech market, with that figure expected to increase in the future. 

The ambition is to combine the two businesses and build on Restore’s existing Apple business to provide the foundation to create an Apple Centre of Excellence.

“The Bookyard has been on our radar for some time and we are delighted that Nick Gillard and his whole team will be joining Restore Technology,” said Charles Bligh, CEO at Restore.

“We have achieved considerable growth in our Apple products line over the past few years, but the significant brand awareness and expertise that The Bookyard will bring will deliver increasing momentum to Restore Technology in the all-important Apple recycling market,” he added.

The deal comes just a couple of months after the firm moved to pick up Runcorn-based Computer Disposals Ltd (CDL).

The two deals struck this year make Restore one of the UK’s largest IT asset disposal (ITAD) specialists and follows a string of acquisitions supporting that ambition. Before CDL, the firm picked up E Recycling (Euro Recycling), an ITAD business based in Bristol, UK, at the end of October.

Speaking to investors at Restore’s Capital Markets Day in November 2020, just weeks after the firm had completed the buy of e Recycling, Bligh indicated that it was focused on adding more to the business.

“Restore’s recent acquisition is reflective of the increasing opportunity we see to accelerate our strategic delivery through a disciplined inorganic strategy, and we are well-positioned to bounce back strongly in 2021,” he said.