Softcat purrs past £300m revenue barrier

Full-year 2012 figure set to be up significantly on last year's haul of £219m

Softcat has joined the elite band of UK resellers turning over £300m or more.

The Marlow-based outfit announced in a press statement that it has burst through the sales barrier just as its financial 2012 draws to a close today.

The reseller, whose full-year turnover has grown from £219m in 2011, has recruited heavily in both sales and technical staff recently in order to keep up with its growth, opening new offices in London and Manchester to accommodate the new starters.

The successful growth is attributed to continued customer focus by its managing director, Martin Hellawell (pictured), who harbours ambitious expansion plans for the year ahead.

He said: "In the next financial year we will continue to focus our energy on our employees and customers.

"It is the hard work of the Softcat team and positive attitude towards our customers that will drive us towards our next big revenue milestone, and the one after that."

Some 44 new recruits began work at the VAR last week, with another 200 appointments set to be made in the coming year.

Some of the reseller's larger competitors - of which there is now only a handful - congratulated Softcat on its success, but dismissed any threat posed to them by its growth.

Computacenter chief executive Mike Norris said: "We operate in very different spaces [to Softcat], but I am sure they will do very well.

"Martin [Hellawell] will be the first to admit we attack different markets, but I wish [him] well as he is very good at his job."

Dan Laws, managing director at Kelway, said: "Softcat is a highly-rated competitor and they should be congratulated as such.

"We track them pretty closely, albeit we have traditionally seen them focus on a smaller customer than Kelway.

"What Martin Helawell and his team have achieved with Softcat is fantastic."

Softcat chairman Peter Kelly, who founded the company in 1993, will leave the hot seat tomorrow following the announcement of his retirement last week.

Of Kelly's departure, Hellawell said: "We will miss his energetic personality and stay true to the vision on which our company was founded."