"Contra-cyclical" tinglobal steps up acquisition hunt

Second-user specialist looks to bolster services business as revenues grow by 13 per cent

Refurbished kit outfit tinglobal confirmed it is on the acquisition hunt as it logged a double-digit interim sales spike.

Tinglobal specialises in second-user Sun, HP, IBM and Cisco equipment, selling through about 600 channel partners in 35 countries.

The Cirencester-based firm said its business model is proving to be “contra-cyclical” as revenues for the six months to 30 November hopped 13 per cent year on year to £11.9m. Operating profit rose 55 per cent to £832,000.

It also used its interim results statement to underline its acquisition ambitions as it moves further into the services arena through its TG Services brand.

Chairman David Gutteridge said: “We are now looking outside the group for opportunities to build our business further via suitable acquisitions.”

Talking to Channelweb, Gutteridge named expanding tinglobal’s product breadth and range of languages covered as key priorities for 2010.

The firm recently began stocking Fujitsu, a vendor Gutteridge said understands the residual value that the second-user market can unlock.

"Fujitsu is an established brand in the upper midrange," he said.

“But more importantly we need to grow our language base. 50 per cent of our business is UK and 20 per cent US, but the rest is foreign languages and we have a continual recruitment programme for bilingual staff that can speak French, Spanish, Chinese, Punjabi, Russian or Ukrainian.”

In a statement, Gutteridge argued that tinglobal was benefiting from the downturn.

"The Group's trading has not been materially affected by the challenging market conditions resulting from the general economic downturn and recession," he stated. "Our business model is proving to be contra-cyclical and we are benefiting from an acceptance of the well-rehearsed advantages of utilising refurbished IT infrastructure in non-critical business areas."