Softcat chief hails stonking H1

VAR smashes 40 per cent growth for first six months of its financial year and focuses on charity fundraising

Martin Hellawell has thanked his new managing director Colin Brown in a typically modest blog on a Softcat LinkedIn group, after the VAR hit almost £190m for the first half of its financial year.

Colin Brown joined the firm from Computacenter Germany as deputy managing director in November, and took over the full managing director role last month.

In his statement to the Friends of Softcat on LinkedIn, Hellawell said: “Last week we finished off counting all the beans from the first six months of our financial year to 31 January. I am delighted to report that the business was up another 40 per cent year on year, once again exceeding all my expectations. Turnover reached nearly £190m for the first six months and in that period we welcomed another 100 new employees into the company.

“Business was buoyant across all our business units, with storage, services and public sector showing particularly strong growth. I was pleasantly surprised to see how strongly the traditional software and hardware businesses grew in that period. Our newish London office and our business selling to XSPs also deserve a special mention for stellar performance.”

He added: “Our new MD Colin Brown has been running the show for most of the first half while I do whatever this chairman thing is, so many congratulations to him and his fantastic team of Softcat employees for an excellent first half to the year.”

Hellawell was quick to praise the VAR’s charitable efforts as well – it will be turning itself into a Comic Relief call centre on 15 March to raise funds for the national charity and he also announced the availability of tickets to the Softcat May Ball on Friday 10 May.

“Tickets are now on sale for Friends of Softcat at the exorbitant price of £250 a head, but every penny of this will go to the Softcat charities including Dreams Come True."

Anyone interested in buying a ticket or "feeling charitable" should contact Martin directly, he said.