Steven Brown takes the helm of Kick ICT

He will succeed Tom O’Hara, the company’s founding CEO

Glasgow-based Kick ICT has named Steven Brown as the new head of the organisation, effective 2 February.

This follows the planned retirement of the firm’s founding CEO, Tom O’Hara, who leaves after ten years.

Kick’s new leader spent the last seven years at Telefónica Tech, holding senior roles including VP of business applications and global director of biz apps.

Prior to that, he assumed exec positions at tech organisations such as Incremental, Redspire, CGI, HPE and Supportkey.

He also worked across other industries during his time at William Grant & Sons, Lockheed Martin and Northern Marine Management.

“Kick has built a strong reputation for its people, its customer focus and its breadth of technology expertise,” said Brown.

“I’m really looking forward to joining the team, getting to know the business and working with colleagues across the organisation to build on the excellent foundations already in place.”

Andrew Taylor, chairman of Kick, added: “[Brown] brings exactly the blend of leadership experience, sector knowledge and cultural fit we were looking for.

“He joins Kick at an exciting point in our journey, with strong momentum across the business and significant opportunities ahead.

“The board is very much looking forward to working with him as we continue to build on our growth strategy.”

The appointment comes after a positive financial period for the company, with results on the up for the year ended 30 September 2024.

Top line rose about ten per cent, from £26m to £28.7m, while EBITDA jumped around 39 per cent, from £3.3m to £4.6m.

This followed LDC’s investment in the company earlier that year, leading to the exit of BGF, which had backed Kick since 2021.

As part of the new capital injection, TDC replaced HSBC as the group's funding partner, reportedly providing the firm with stronger M&A muscles.

In addition to what Kick described as “strong organic growth”, of which 72 per cent came from recurring revenue, earnings were also bolstered by the buyout of C2 Software in 2023.

As of the results release, the group served more than 1,000 customers across the UK.