Varlink cheers FY 2011 success

York-based specialist distributor sees sales rise across the board and is feeling confident for the future

Specialist distributor Varlink is focused firmly on growth after seeing a 17 per cent rise in profit for its 2011 financial year.

The York-based distributor, which specialises in mobile computing and data capture, also saw turnover grow 17 per cent to £9.5m for the year ended 31 August 2011.

Mike Pullon, chief executive of Varlink, said: “In 2011 we had some really strong growth from our Epos distribution sale division – for example, they made good progress in establishing Posiflex sales in the UK, and our Orient and Bixolon printers had strong uptake from resellers.”

Pullon said the distributor’s Opticon, Getac, Psion and Trimble ranges of handheld terminals had also seen strong uptake, and some wins in the healthcare space with its Janam product line had provided a boost.

“Our Zebra printer range has done very well, as has Datalogic,” Pullon added.

He said the firm is already seeing above-expected growth for the early quarters of FY 2012.

“When we did the budgets for our current year we conservatively budgeted for 13 per cent growth, but early indications for Q1 point to 26 per cent growth in Q1,” Pullon added. Looking ahead for the year, he said the distributor is banking on some big developments in the tablet computing space.

“Rugged tablets are coming online around March and June, and Casio has an interesting road map,” Pullon said. “We are now up to 30 staff and last year doubled the size of our warehouse, which has made growth possible,” he added. “We are feeling very positive.”