Fast-growing VIP maintains acquisition vigil
Chairman of distributor and system builder on lookout for acquisitions after posting third year of double-digit growth
VIP Group's chairman has vowed to remain on the acquisition trail after closing the books on a third consecutive year of double-digit growth.
The Warrington-based Asus, AMD and Nvidia distributor, which also owns system builders CMS and Ergo and a sizeable business in the Benelux, saw revenue jump by 11 per cent to £227m in its financial year to 30 June.
EBITDA rose 24 per cent to £4.3m, ahead of plan, although a £510,000 loss at Ergo pushed operating profit down by 20 per cent to £1.84m.
Chairman Jatti Sahni said he was pleased with the results, given the flat market.
"The fact we are enjoying double-digit growth, at a profitable level and in a mature market, is very pleasing and we are investing in the organisation for the next phase of our growth," he said.
VIP has made three acquisitions in the past nine years in the form of components distributor Realtime in 2006, CMS Computers in 2011 and Ergo in January last year, the latter of which it has now revealed was for a maximum consideration of £1.3m.
Ergo slumped to a loss of £510,000 during the six-month period in which it contributed, while revenues of £2.7m were also "significantly below expectations".
However, following a review of the business and actions taken last year, Ergo is expected to break even in the current year and turn a profit in 2016, VIP said.
"Like any acquisition, Ergo has gone through a programme of restructuring to get ready for growth and we expect it to contribute to the number in 2015," Sahni said.
VIP's decision to close its Dubai office in November, which it announced nine months earlier, resulted in exceptional costs of £0.4m.
Its other overseas operations continue to fire, however, with VIP Benelux seeing sales grow from £83.6m to £89m year on year and its US arm hauling in £6.9m in sales. CMS Computers, meanwhile, doubled operating profit to £1.8m on revenues that shot up 24 per cent to £33.6m.
"We are tracking for another year of double-digit growth in 2015. As a group we are looking to grow either organically or through acquisitions, and that search never stops," Sahni concluded.