When Stuart Blackhurst’s Finsur team began reviewing the financial filings of WeBuyAnyPhone, the story stood out immediately. Few companies in the UK’s secondary mobile market have demonstrated such a steep recovery curve. From mounting losses to record revenues, the transformation of E-GIANT Ltd, better known today as WeBuyAnyPhone (WBAP), offers a rare glimpse into how strategic repositioning and operational persistence can reshape a business.
From small beginnings to renewed direction
Founded in late 2012 by Alex Berthonneau, E-GIANT Ltd started modestly, soon joined by James Ashby as director. The early years were steady, with small losses turning into break-even results. Around 2014, serial entrepreneurs Darren Ridge and Aaron Brown entered as shareholders, bringing experience but also a period of turbulence. Between 2018 and 2022, after taking on director roles, the company continued to post losses despite one profitable year in 2019.
By 2022, however, the company seemed ready for a reset. Berthonneau stepped down, Ashby had already departed, and the business adopted its current name, WeBuyAnyPhone. With the rebranding came renewed focus and the near-erasure of historic balance sheet losses: a strong indicator that operational and financial discipline had returned.
A breakout financial year
The real turning point arrived in FY2024. According to publicly filed accounts, revenue surged 39.1% from € 26.2 million in FY2023 to € 36.5 million. This € 10.3 million increase marked the company’s most significant year-on-year rise since inception. All of this revenue stemmed from the UK market, underlining WBAP’s strength in domestic sourcing and resale.
While earlier years only required small-company filings, Blackhurst’s team inferred from 2022 gross margins that WBAP’s turnover then stood around €14–15 million. Looking even further back to 2019, debtor data points to sales of approximately €5–6 million. Over five years, the company’s trajectory represents a fivefold increase.
The challenge of sustaining momentum
If WBAP were to maintain its 39% compound annual growth rate, its revenue could exceed € 70 million by FY2026. Yet this optimism must be weighed against sector realities. The secondary device market continues to face tight supply conditions, fluctuating average selling prices, and increasing competition from certified refurbishers.
PhonesDirect, WBAP’s trading name for retail sales, offers both new and refurbished devices. Based on Finsur’s analysis, WBAP’s FY2024 revenue equates to roughly 100,000 devices sold, up from about 75,000 in FY2023.
A growing presence in UK re-commerce
In just a few years, WeBuyAnyPhone, a great name as it is associates with similar names for different products groups, has gone from near-obscurity to one of the UK’s most active players in the secondary mobile market. Its latest filings reveal not just financial strength but renewed transparency, signalling confidence in both business structure and growth potential. For an industry built on tight margins and rapid product cycles, WBAP’s steady climb offers a compelling case study in resilience and reinvention.
Source: Finsur
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