CAE set for new office as revenue tops £95m

Cisco Gold Partner sees sales jump 62 per cent and EBITDA surge 70 per cent

CAE Technology Services is set to open its first northern office after seeing revenue jump 62 per cent to £95.7m, according to managing director Justin Harling.

Harling told CRN that the firm already has a team in place which will be based in the north-west once a suitable site has been found.

The new location will be CAE's second office opening in two years, after it added a Brighton base to its Watford HQ last year.

Harling said the Brighton office was in part responsible for the surge in revenue, but that it can be mostly attributed to organic growth.

"It's stunning growth," he said. "We geared it up to grow, but we exceeded our expectations on how much we could grow.

"At the beginning [of the year] we added the Brighton office and that has had an impact, but it certainly doesn't account for all that growth.

"Outside that office it's organic. We have a clarity of purpose that we actually think is lacking in the market somewhat.

"There are a lot of distractions out there at the moment - lots of merger and acquisition activity and lots of people working out what their strategies look like - but we're just set up."

Harling claimed that some channel firms are guilty of taking their eye off the ball by focusing so much on the shift to services and forgetting that there are still opportunities for traditional approaches.

He said in some cases, partners are shifting to a managed services model quicker than their customers are ready for.

"We're evolving at the same pace as our customers and they are still investing in core infrastructure as a platform to help them along a digital transformation journey," he said.

"It has come on some very core areas technology wise, but we're seeing a lot of people forget the basics somewhat and try to get too far ahead.

"Being service led is important, but some are trying to skip three steps and make like they're an MSP when actually the customer might not be ready for that."

Moving north

Following last year's growth, CAE has prepared a team of around 10 to be based at its forthcoming office in the north-west.

CAE's headcount is currently 225, excluding the new team.

CAE recorded its best ever month in August, driven by work in the education sector, and Harling said the firm is on track to top £100m this financial year.