Integralis looks to NTT base for 2010 success

Eastern promise: Integralis aims to court the customer base of Japanese parent company NTT

After a solid sales hike in 2009, Integralis will look to use parent company NTT's blue chip customer base to fuel 2010 growth.

Documents recently filed with Companies House reveal the security integrator's UK revenue for the 12 months to 31 December stood at £60.7m, up from £55.6m in 2008.

Operating profit rose 3.3 per cent year on year to £1.62m. But a £3m-plus impairment charge saw the firm post a net loss of £1.67m. In 2008, Integralis banked about £229,000 in net profit.

The directors' report says: "2009 proved to be a successful year in further development of our relationships with financial institutions as they started their recovery from a deep recession and began to spend more on IT infrastructure than they had in 2008.

"The market was stronger than expected in 2009 as companies looked to save money on internal IT security costs by outsourcing to managed security services providers."

During 2009, Integralis was acquired by Japanese telecoms firm NTT Communications in a €75m (£64m) cash deal. There were also wide-scale senior management changes, following the appointment of Simon Church as the company's UK chief.

Looking ahead, the directors' report says the reseller's focus this year will be strengthening ties with existing customers and courting the " multinational corporations" that work with NTT. Integralis and its owner intend to "share information about client engagements" to help grow revenue.

"We expect our larger customers to maintain or slightly reduce security budgets in 2010," says the report. "Although we expect security investment to be higher in trend than the rest of the IT industry due to the increased sophistication of threats."

The directors' report concedes that 2009 brought "a degree of turnover amongst the sales staff". But the VAR asserts that it has recruited "more experienced" replacements. The report also reveals that Integralis' mid-enterprise sales division is to be split in two, with one team focused on the north of the country and another on the south.

UK staff levels rose from 176 to 182 during 2009. Administration staff were trimmed from 27 to 22, while sales and marketing heads were reduced by one to 56. There was a 13 per cent spike in the number of technical employees, with numbers growing from 92 to 104.

Earlier this year Integralis was singled out as one of best IT firms to work for in the UK. The directors' report concludes that staff recruitment and retention remains of the utmost importance this year.

"We are making continued efforts to retain and attract new staff by offering childcare vouchers, a health insurance helpline, increased training and mentoring programmes," it says.