Intercept chief reveals expansion ambitions

Serial investor Richard Gilder aims to build a £25m business after taking the reins of virtualisation reseller

Virtualisation reseller Intercept has restructured its boardroom and has tasked its new chief executive with more than doubling the VAR’s turnover by 2011.

Industry veteran Richard Gilder has taken the place of Intercept’s co-founder and former chief executive, Ian Readman, who has stepped aside to become non-executive chairman.

The corporate restructure also sees Rodney Azavedo take responsibility for leading sales, and general manager Will Brooks promoted to operations director.

As the largest shareholder in the firm, Gilder plans to drive Intercept’s growth in virtualisation, hosting and cloud computing, aiming for £25m annual turnover by 2011.

The reseller grew 72 per cent year on year in 2008, posting a turnover of a little more than £10m.

“We have three data centres for hosting, which we will be investing in more as Microsoft furthers its technology ­ particularly around Exchange, CRM and SharePoint,” said Gilder.

“Readman is based in the US, so it made sense to appoint a chief executive solely for the UK.”

Andrew Binding, UK managing director of virtualisation distributor Magirus, said: “Intercept has aggressive growth plans and, as with a lot of companies firmly in the virtualisation space, it is weathering the current climate well.”