Apex Communications LLC

After five minutes of listening to Randal Caldwell outline his vision for growing his company, United Medical Inc. of Wynne, Tim McNatt was persuaded to return to Arkansas and become CFO of the medical equipment supplier.
During the next few years, the company grew dramatically. In the late 1990s, a group of investors from Stephens Group Inc. helped Caldwell, McNatt and the rest of United Medical expand from 18 locations in Arkansas to 56 locations in nine states over the course of about 18 months.
In 2000, United sold to Lincare Holdings Inc. of Clearwater, Fla., for $120.9 million. But McNatt, Caldwell, Caldwell’s son Jay and several others from United soon started Apex Communications LLC, offering computer networking and phone systems to business clients. McNatt is president and CEO.
Through acquisitions, Apex grew to four retail stores that offered two-way radio and wireless phones in addition to networking services. Eventually, Apex sold off the other components of its business to focus on selling wireless phones.
In 2006, the company bought Go Wireless of Camden and was granted exclusive rights to AT&T distribution in Magnolia. The acquisition and the Magnolia store brought the total number of locations to 13.
Through 2009, Apex bought and opened other stores, bringing the total to 30 and making the company Arkansas’ largest AT&T retailer. Apex also sells wireline and Internet service, as well as AT&T U-verse and DirecTV in some of its markets.
In February 2010, the company opened its 31st store, and in January, Apex announced its acquisition of seven stores from Direct Communications Inc. of Columbus, Ga.
About two-thirds of the company’s stores are in small towns. “Word of mouth travels really quickly in smaller towns,” McNatt said. “If you do a great job, people are going to talk about that, and that’s developed our reputation.”
One of the company’s challenges is the competitiveness of the communication technology business, McNatt said. There are many places to buy wireless phones, so customer service is essential. “People do business with people, so our No. 1 asset in the company is people,” McNatt said.

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