Portal hungry for growth after stonking FY 2011

VAR sees a 50 per cent increase in turnover and has ambitious plans for mobility, information management and big data

Bullish VAR Portal is aiming for a repeat performance after seeing sales increase 50 per cent for its financial year ended 31 March 2012.

The firm, which is one of IBM’s top three UK software resellers, was formed in 2006 after four IBM partners merged to form a mid-market player capable of rapid growth.

Shamus Kelly (pictured), managing director of Portal, told CRN it had taken a lot of hard work to get to where they are today. “Portal is the result of a merger of four smaller companies,” he said. “The idea was that we became a company of 80 people with a turnover of £8m or more and to build a larger business with more capability that will support growth.

“Over the past couple of years we have achieved that,” he added. “Three of the businesses merged very well together, but one of them which had a model based around Tivoli did not fit so well and had cultural differences because it was more about IT sales, whereas the rest of the business was about business solutions such as messaging and collaboration.”

He added that business had since reformed as an independent player once more.

Kelly said over the past three years Portal has gone from £8m turnover to £14.5m the second year, to £22m for FY 2011.

“Two lots of 50 per cent growth is a nice position to be in,” he said. Profit for the year was up 28 per cent, although the exact figure was not revealed.

In the coming year Kelly said Portal will increase its focus on the growing area of information management (IM) and big data, particularly after hiring IBM’s IM expert David Beeston in March. And it is also seeing traction in the mobility space, having recently won a significant deal with Highbury College.

“Mobility is a strong area for us,” he said. “The whole BYOD boom is another reason why mobile is so big.

“2011 has been a year of landmark achievements,” he added. “We have opened offices in India and Ireland, hired some great people and won fabulous new clients, but our achievements have made us even hungrier for more success.”