‘The year was a challenge’: Ikonic CEO on financial results

The group, which navigated a complex market environment throughout the year, also made progress on its sustainability targets, Chris Perry tells CRN

Manchester-based distie Ikonic Technology Limited has reported mixed results for the year ended 31 December amid what CEO Chris Perry describes as “a volatile market”.

The firm’s top line landed at £125.8m, a 10.1 per cent drop from £139.9m the year prior.

Revenue in the UK remained broadly flat, growing 1.3 per cent year-on-year to £51.3m.

Earnings from the rest of Europe declined 8.3 per cent to £69.4m, while turnover from the rest of the world dipped 63 per cent from £13.5m to £5.1m.

“The year was a challenge overall, but the Ikonic team adapted well to cope with the market movements and, in particular, the second-half stock constraints,” Perry tells CRN.

“Sales fell slightly overall, but that was a conscious decision to focus on quality service and value-added margin.

“Against a backdrop of rising costs, it was important for Ikonic not to be ‘busy fools’, and this allowed us to enhance the customer experience.”

Despite the revenue decrease, EBITDA leapt 38 per cent to £3.6m (FY24: £2.6m).

Sustainability progress

Ikonic’s energy consumption declined three per cent year-on-year from 275.8kWh to 268.1kWh.

Gross emissions also fell 15.5 per cent to 48.8 metric tonnes (MT), compared with 57.8 MT in FY24.

The improvement was largely driven by a 74 per cent decline in Scope 1 emissions, which fell to 0.65 MT.

Scope 2 emissions also dropped from 53.5 MT to 43.8 MT.

“We are proud to be leading the industry in this area,” Perry says.

“Ikonic has now been carbon neutral for five years and, in short, we review the business every year to identify what we can manage better.”

Perry adds the company has increasingly focused on “doing more with less” through initiatives including shipping consolidation, reducing electricity usage, limiting travel where possible and using AI to streamline processes.

On the other hand, Scope 3 emissions surged 142 per cent year-on-year to 4.4 MT.

Perry tells CRN that shipping remains a major contributor to the firm’s overall product footprint and is being closely monitored.

In February, he also said the company intends to reach net zero emissions by 2038.

‘A better year’ ahead

Moving forward, the CEO says the business had delivered a strong first quarter despite what he describes as a complex and fast-moving market environment.

He adds that while prices had increased due to market constraints, Ikonic has used its UK and European footprint to mitigate some of the impact.

“We expect it to be a better year overall, including further growth in our sustainable British Standards Institution (BSI) refurbished product sets, which are truly market leading.

“Ikonic is mindful, however, of market normalisation later in the year and into 2027, which will inevitably bring higher costs, not helped by the economic landscape both in the UK and further afield.”