Cisco Gold partner ANS calls bottom of recession

Fletcher: The worst is now behind us

Cisco Gold partner ANS has asserted that the worst of the recession is over as it posted a seven per cent rise in interim revenue.

Turnover for the six months to 30 September hit £5.5m, up from £5.1m a year earlier, while operating profit was flat at £378,000.

During that time, the Manchester-based reseller became one of just five Cisco partners to make it into the vendor’s Advanced Technology Programme around its new UCS server technology. The others were market giants Didata, Computacenter, Logicalis and BT. It also signed up with two new vendors, RSA Security and Datacore.

Recurring revenue rose 17.6 per cent to £4m and now generates half of ANS’ gross margins.

While other Cisco Gold partners have battened down the hatches this year, 2009 has been a time of investment for ANS. As well as taking on two new directors and 10 sales and technical staff, the VAR has made a six-figure investment in its infrastructure including new demo facilities and videoconferencing technology.

ANS said the spending splurge had affected short-term profitability but would enable it to drive stronger growth as the downturn eases.

ANS chairman Scott Fletcher said: “Although these tough trading conditions continue to challenge us, we believe that the worst is now behind us and I have confidence that we can continue to buck the trend through to the end of the financial year.

“We believe that we are nearing the end of one of the longest downturns in history, and the company is extremely well placed to take advantage of the upturn when it comes.”