Storm Technologies enjoys bumper 2013

Top and bottom line soar at £50m-plus HP partner

Reseller Storm Technologies enjoyed a solid 2013, posting double-digit sales growth and a profit spike in excess of 80 per cent.

Accounts recently filed with Companies House reveal the Watford-based VAR saw revenue for the 2013 calendar year expand 10.7 per cent year on year to £56.3m. Margins were also on the up as both operating and net profit rose a little more than 83 per cent to £2.1m and £1.6m respectively. This means net margins for the year stood at about 2.8 per cent.

Storm, which is an HP Gold Specialist partner and also works with vendors including Panasonic, VMware, IBM and Cisco, enjoyed sharp growth in its business outside Europe last year. Non-EU sales for 2013 came in more than £2.9m, up from just £67,940 in the prior year. Sales into mainland Europe were up almost 17 per cent to £945,658, while revenue in this region came in at £54.4m, up from £50m in 2012.

Shareholders' funds as of year-end stood at £2.25m, having risen by about £275,000 over the course of the year. Average monthly staff numbers during 2013 were 91, down slightly from the 2012 figure of 95. The directors' report for the year claimed Storm has enjoyed a continuation of last year's success during the opening months of 2014.

"2013 has been a pleasing year, with increases in sales and the maintenance of margins," says the report. "Significant investment was made during the year in the infrastructure and personnel of the company, and the positive results of this are already evident in the first months of 2014."