European Electronique opens Manchester digs after solid FY14

Oxfordshire VAR opens first satellite office after revenue expands 18 per cent to almost £60m

VAR European Electronique has opened doors on a northern office in Manchester as annual accounts reveal sales soaring to almost £60m.

The Oxfordshire-headquartered company had been considering London or Manchester as the location for its first satellite office, according to chief executive Yolanta Gill. The firm still intends to set up a base in the capital, she said, but the availability of talented staff in the north-west had made it the ideal choice for expansion.

The office, which is located at the Exchange Quay complex in Salford, will initially be staffed by four people, with plans to expand this into double figures over the next few months. The location will also be home to a new team targeting the SMB market.

"A few years ago our business was about 50 per cent commercial, but we have been very strong on a number of frameworks and have probably concentrated on the public sector. But our intention now is to build our commercial business," said Gill.

European Electronique's 2014 fiscal year closed at the end of March, with turnover rising 18 per cent annually to about £58m. The plan is to replicate such success FY15, with sales staff in Manchester expected to meet the same targets as their new colleagues in the south.

"I would like at least to grow by a similar amount this year," explained Gill (pictured). "That will hopefully come from organic growth, but we may also do a small acquisition."

One of last year's success stories was its Freedom cloud offering, which is used by four multi-academy education trusts, covering about 50 schools. Services are provided from its own datacentre in Reading, and the reseller hopes to open a second facility in the coming months.

"We made investments last year, and we are now seeing a return on those investments," said Gill. "Everyone has been talking about cloud for quite a long time, but a lot of customers were a bit nervous about switching. Now the government is trying to find different ways [of consuming IT]."