Margin multiplies as ANS casts off pass-through business

Reseller takes £6m sales hit in FY13 as it steps away from low-margin subcontracting but pre-tax income enjoys big boost

Pre-tax profit at ANS Group has rocketed by nearly three quarters annually, but sales at the VAR took a £6m hit as it walked away from low-margin pass-through government framework business.

For the 12 months to 31 March, profit before tax jumped 72 per cent year on year to £3.1m on sales which fell six per cent to £44m.

The Manchester-based reseller insisted the sales slump was down to stopping subcontracting business out through government frameworks, and said without the one-off hit, the top line would have grown seven per cent annually.

ANS' managing director Paul Sweeney told CRN that although government sales are on the up, it just was not worth it to subcontract out business.

"On frameworks we were offering opportunities to subcontractors to win business via ourselves, but margins were too low and the risk was too high," he said. "Traditionally, that's not our business - we don't subcontract - so we decided not to do that anymore. It took a chunk out of our turnover, but we are growing. It just wasn't worth the risk... we prefer to do the direct work."

The firm puts the profit and underlying sales growth down to its continued focus on its FlexPod i3 offering, and claims it is the single largest provider of FlexPods in EMEA.

Contracted revenue at the reseller almost doubled, up 96 per cent annually for the year, and half of its gross profit came from managed services, up from 32 per cent in the prior year. The firm said it hopes this figure will rise to 80 per cent in the coming year, and added that customer retention in its managed services arm stands at 98 per cent.

Over the year, ANS grew its headcount 30 per cent, a figure helped along by an influx of apprentices, all of whom the company aims to retain on completion of the recruits' training.

ANS founder Scott Fletcher (pictured) said: "These positive results are a testament to the quality and dedication of our workforce, which is now approaching 200.

"As we continue to recruit high-quality individuals, with the working knowledge and expertise to deliver solutions, we can provide the high quality which often exceeds our customer's expectations.

"The scale of our infrastructure solutions has been well publicised with some high-profile wins in the North West to complement our ongoing commitments in the City of London and with major NHS authorities."