Project slowdown pushes Kavanagh to 2009 loss

VAR suffers "challenging year" due to dearth of datacentre projects

Kavanagh said the number of larger datacentre projects significantly declined in its fiscal 2009

Datacentre VAR Kavanagh has stressed its fortunes have lifted dramatically since last April after posting a double-digit revenue drop and swinging into the red for its fiscal 2009.

According to a Companies House filing, turnover for the year to 30 April 2009 fell by 15 per cent to £24.9m.

Losses hit £1.6m, compared with a profit of £51,000 a year earlier, and Bracknell-based Kavanagh admitted 2009 had been “a very challenging year”.

The HP ally specialises in large data centre projects worth up to £1m or £2m. The firm admitted its core business was hit badly last year.

However, talking to CRN, Kavanagh managing director Rob Campbell said these larger projects were coming back.

“As a relatively high-profile systems integrator/reseller we are structured around larger projects and we were disproportionately effected by the recession as people were not willing to engage in larger projects,” he said.

Kavanagh’s annual accounts also reveal the firm has received renewed support from its bankers and a key distributor.

“Looking forward from now, revenues are expected to recover, and the directors expect the group to be profitable in the future,” it stated.

Kavanagh’s average headcount rose from 99 to 102 between 2008 and 2009 but the VAR indicated it had recently restructured to enable it to “be more responsive to the peaks and troughs of the business”.