Vars reveal revenue increase

Almost three quarters of Vars have shown that their revenue for 1997 has more than doubled since the previous year.

A survey conducted by PMP Research revealed an increase in demand for more services and diverse systems - 72 per cent of Vars surveyed showed an average revenue increase of 46 per cent, while 37 per cent of the increase in business came from new clients.

The main factor for the increase in turnover cited by resellers included a heightened interest among clients in e-commerce systems and the internet, as well as solutions for the millennium bug. However, there were concerns over the lack of interest from clients over EMU, with 46 per cent of clients not having considered the problem at all.

But there was a bleaker side of the survey which revealed the cut-throat nature of the business, as 44 per cent of resellers had a change of ownership over the past two years, 65 per cent of which were due to acquisitions by competitors.

The survey predicted growth in all areas, except hardware sales. Keith Auchterlonie, divisional manager of Aran - the firm which commissioned the survey - said: 'Clients are following the corporate line, sourcing their hardware independently with OEMs but coming to the Vars for their software systems.'

Phil Williams, director of corporate marketing at Computacenter, said: 'Last year was a good one and the outlook for the market is buoyant. The data we have seen suggests more growth for the future. Part of the reason for this growth is that the services we provide have gone up the (corporate) hierarchy of needs.'

Paolo Puppoli, analyst at Dataquest, said: 'Resellers are selling more high-end equipment like servers with higher margins and there is a transition in the market, with clients looking closer at areas such as e-commerce.

'The IT market as a whole is expanding so resellers will experience the benefit,' he said.