Metaphor IT on course for £10m revenue barrier

MSP is expanding to bigger office to accommodate recent headcount growth

Metaphor IT is expecting to break the £10m barrier within the next three years, according to founder Richard Callis.

The managing director told CRN that he expects the company to generate turnover of £7m by the end of its current financial year on 31 March 2019.

Callis said revenue expectations stem from organic growth but that acquisitions will continue to play an important part in the MSP's overall growth.

"If we acquire, revenue could be way ahead of £10m, depending on the revenue of that company. But organic growth is our bread and butter and we are going to keep focused on that, but we are always looking at acquisitions," he told CRN.

"Acquisitions are a key part of our growth so far and we expect that to continue, but we haven't found companies that are the right fit."

Metaphor - which counts Rackspace, Citrix and Microsoft among its vendor partners - made its last acquisition in September 2016, with the purchase of Surrey-based Teagen, but Callis admitted that it will acquire only companies that meet a set of rules.

Acquisition targets must fit in with Metaphor's existing three pillars of cloud and virtualisation, security, and managed services, and must have revenues of £5m or below.

"The three pillars remain the same. We are looking for something in those areas that either expands our capabilities or enhances what we already have," Callis said.

"The natural organic growth has kept us busy, and we are still actively looking at acquisitions but are keen on them being the right fit for us."

The MD also confirmed that the London-based company is moving to a bigger office in the city due to a jump in staff numbers in the past 12 months.

"Our headcount has organically grown from 30 to 42 over the last year as we have won more managed service and security contracts," he said.

"That number will get to 45 before we move into the new office - the move can't come quick enough."

Metaphor also has a second office in Red Hill in Surrey, which houses 15 employees.