Softcat unveils Ireland plans as revenues soar by a quarter
Reseller giant says momentum gathering behind plans for an Irish office as it posted its 50th uninterrupted quarter of revenue and profit growth
Softcat has revealed that it wants to set up shop in Ireland within a year as it unveiled a 50th consecutive quarter of revenue and profit growth.
According to a stock exchange announcement this morning, the Marlow-based reseller saw revenues leap 25 per cent year on year to £472.8m in the six months ending 31 January 2018, with operating profits hiking by 15 per cent to £24.1m.
Having opened a south-coast office and expanded its Manchester premises during the period, Softcat said "momentum is gathering behind a project to open in Dublin within the next 12 months". This would be its first overseas move.
In a statement, outgoing Softcat CEO Martin Hellawell dubbed 1H "another very strong period of performance".
The firm added 600 new customers during the period, with gross profits per customer growing by more than 15 per cent, he said.
By revenue, software generated £240m of the total, up 24 per cent, with hardware growing 30 per cent to £165m. Services revenues rose by 16 per cent to £68m.
"We are benefiting from strong market demand for all our offerings and from all our major customer segments and continue to relentlessly pursue our simple strategy of doing more business with our existing customers and winning new customers," Hellawell said.
Hellawell will step into the non-executive chairman role on 3 April to make way for his chosen successor, Graeme Watt.
"It has been a great privilege to run Softcat for over twelve years," he said. "We have achieved a great deal and it's been a pleasure to be part of the company's success in that period. I owe a very large debt of gratitude to the employees of Softcat for making this possible and also thank our customers and partners for their invaluable support during my tenure."
Although Softcat's market valuation has more than doubled since it went public in November 2015, the results pushed its share price down by around 12 per cent in early morning trading.
"The Board is confident of meeting its expectations for the full year but we have some important months ahead and will remain very focused on delivering outstanding service for customers," Hellawell said.