Organic growth in UK pushes Exclusive Group to strongest results

Distributor's COO says cybersecurity focus helped bolster VAD's top line

VAD Exclusive Group has posted revenues of €1.75bn (£1.56bn) for its 2017 end of year results, a 38 per cent hike year-on-year. The distributor says its the company's best financial results to date.

Its UK COO Barrie Desmond told CRN sister publication Channelnomics Europe that its 2017 acquisitions, made in the Benelux with TechAccess and in the US with Fine Tec, have helped the firm drive its top line.

"In the past, we were underrepresented in the market in the Benelux. It's now a market for us with revenues in excess of €100m (£89m), and our acquisition of TechAccess was about getting the right critical mass, to bring us up to where we want it to be," he said.

"Our core vendors are outperforming the rest of the market. You look at TechAccess, and they brought in Fortinet, which continues to grow in excess of 20 per cent year on year, where the wider market is normally ten per cent."

The VAD's strongest regions for organic growth were its southern region and the UK at 27 per cent, then France and Germany at 26 and 16 per cent respectively.

The Rhones-Alpes-based firm also claims to have been able to double its revenues over the past two years, and to have expanded its reseller partner base by ten per cent since 2016.

Desmond said this is down to partners recognising Exclusive Group as a specialist in a field of consolidating mega-distributors.

"The reason we're expanding our partner base is because of our specialist approach into cybersecurity and cloud transformation," he said.

"There's such a lack of resources, in terms of cyber security vacancies….It's a massive opportunity for the channel. Our goal is to become the go-to cybersecurity VAD.

"Consolidation as a trend in the market is coming from the mega distributors who are looking to get economies of scale and efficiency, where as we're going for pure growth….It's a different posture and mentality."

Looking ahead, Desmond added that he believes the company needs to further expand into new markets in order to continue its growth momentum.

"We could do more in sub-Saharan Africa, and in the US - we're a $300m business there, and I think we've got to be over a billion dollars to have credibility.

"We're not in eastern Europe, so we need to look there, as well as in China."