NetStore rides high on Q1 results
UK application service provider NetStore has announced a 62 per cent increase in turnover in its first-quarter financial results.
UK application service provider (ASP) NetStore has announced a 62 per cent increase in turnover in its first-quarter financial results.
The Bracknell-based company, which claims it is one of only two ASPs worldwide to be certified by Microsoft, announced turnover of £520,000 for the three months ended 30 September, and revealed a total contracted turnover of £4.6m.
According to the results, gross margins were higher than expected, and the company predicts that its full-year gross margins will be even higher.
NetStore, which employs 83 people and has additional offices in Manchester and Paris, was founded in 1996, and describes itself as "Europe's leading ASP". The company claims to have been the first European ASP to achieve a listing on the London Stock Exchange. Raising £40m, the company is valued at £140m.
NetStore hosts Microsoft Exchange applications on a fixed-price, per-user, per-month basis via the internet, which it claims "provides the flexibility to access the software and support services required on a subscription basis".
More than 18,500 users are registered to use NetStore's services, which include online back-up and recovery. Services range from application software, licensing and upgrades to education and consulting. Clients include Anheuser-Busch, Avon, Cisco, Citrix, Logica, NatWest, NTL and BT.
Commenting on the three-month results, chief executive Gary Smith said: "We are delighted that we are continuing to deliver against the targets we set at our initial public offering. Significantly, we have used less cash resources in meeting those targets."
Becoming a Microsoft certified ASP partner, he added, was a "fundamental step for the company; essential in building the trust of the channel and end users".
"We are very proud that in an IT sector dominated by US companies, where the UK has often been a laggard, NetStore, a UK company, is one of the first two companies worldwide to pass through this stringent process," he said.