NG Bailey IT Services rejoins £50m club after FY12 turnaround

Construction firm's IT channel arm upbeat about further growth after reversing its fortunes in recently closed fiscal year

NG Bailey IT Services reassumed its place in the £50m club in its 2012 fiscal year after returning to top-line growth and nigh on doubling profit.

The UK IT channel arm of the construction giant, which formerly traded as Bailey Teswaine, saw sales for the 12 months to 24 February rise 17.4 per cent year on year to £52.6m. The revenue expansion follows declines of 2.8 and 16 per cent in FY11 and FY10 respectively. Turnover is still a little shy of the 2009 figure of £55.1m.

Operating profit grew from less than £600,000 in the prior year to upwards of £1.1m this time out. This equates to an increase in margins from 1.3 to 2.1 per cent. The return to profitability follows hefty operational losses of £5m in FY10 and £11.3m in FY09.

The firm's net assets increased almost twofold over the course of FY12, rising from £1.5m to £2.8m. The average monthly number of full-time staff on the books grew from 289 to 296 during the year, with the typical use of weekly paid employees declining from 15 to five.

In the recently filed directors' report for the year, the company stresses that, helped by the backing of its £464m-turnover parent, it can lean on its "considerable financial resources in the years ahead".

"[The FY12 profit] strengthens the company's balance sheet further," adds the report. "These results provide a solid platform on which to base future growth. In light of the strong indicators reported above, the directors are cautiously optimistic about the future prospects of the company."

NG Bailey boosted its IT channel credentials with a couple of acquisitions in the mid-noughties. In 2006 came the buyout of Northern Irish cabling specialist Kedington, followed by the acquisition of Sussex-based Cisco Gold partner s2s in 2008. The latter is now wholly subsumed into the NG Bailey IT Services operation.