Solid Probrand rejoins £40m club

Reseller content with another steady year in newly published results

Reseller Probrand grew its turnover back past the £40m mark as profits held firm during a steady 2013.

The Birmingham-based VAR recently filed numbers at Companies House which reveal sales for the 2013 calendar year rose 7.7 per cent annually to about £40.8m. Gross margins were maintained at 11 per cent, while pre-tax profit was flat at £546,940. Total shareholders' funds increased by more than £300,000 during the year to £2.36m.

Staff numbers rose from 67 to 72 in 2013, with total annual employee remuneration rising from £2.04m to £2.37m. The directors' report for the year states that the reseller's leadership team "are pleased with another solid set of results".

"Careful control over the overheads, helped by continuing investment in electronic systems, resulted in a minimal increase in overheads - other than investment in staff - enabling a further solid profit-before-tax figure," add the directors. "The board were particularly encouraged that the improvement in gearing has been maintained and the company continues to have over £1m balances at the bank at the financial year end."

The HP partner's fortunes have been up and down in recent years, with revenue in 2008, 2009 and 2010 exceeding £50m, having grown strongly on the back of the company's inclusion on the massive CITHS government IT framework in 2010 and, before that, its predecessor Catalist.

More than 30 per cent of its top line fell away in 2011. Operational profitability also took a major hit, despite Probrand's stated intention of implementing "a policy of moving away from high-turnover, low-margin business". The following year was far more stable, with sales rising 3.5 per cent as operating profit spiked more than 50 per cent.