MSP giant Claranet grows to the tune of 50 per cent

Acquisitive MSP lauds 'exceptional year' as revenues power through £300m barrier

Claranet has delivered near 50 per cent growth in FY2018, in what CEO Charles Nasser described as an "exceptional" year for the London-based MSP.

Adjusted EBITDA for Claranet's financial year ending 30 June 2018 increased by 29 per cent to £50m (€55.6m) on revenues that soared by 49 per cent, totalling £321.6m.

Claranet claims both organic growth and acquisitions contributed to the steep revenue climb. The MSP made a triple M&A swoop in 2017 for UK security firm Sec-1, French DevOps outfit Oxalide and €95m-turnover Portuguese VAR ITEN Solutions.

Company CFO Nigel Fairhurst told CRN sister publication Channelnomics Europe last year that Claranet would grow revenues to £310m based solely on its integrating the business from its trio of acquisitions.

CEO Charles Nasser claims it has been an "exceptional" year of growth for Claranet.

"The growth that we have seen over the past financial year is exceptional. This is a result of the progress we've made to consolidate our presence in the markets in which we operate and strengthen our service portfolio. Claranet continues to innovate and the investments we have made in our capabilities, staff, and partners over the past year will ensure that we can continue to design, migrate, run, and support our customers' broad range of infrastructure and applications on any public, private, or hybrid cloud environment," he said.

"This is a key differentiator for the business and will enable us to continue to help our customers to get the best out of cloud services.

"Our strategy has also seen us make significant in-roads into the rapidly growing IT security market, which we believe is a huge opportunity for the business. By combining the ethical hacking, penetration testing, managed security services, and training expertise of Sec-1 and NotSoSecure in our dedicated Cyber Security unit, we have a strong platform on which we can pursue further growth and break into new markets."

Claranet made four more acquisitions this year, having most recently acquired a small IT services outfit in the Netherlands.

The firm received an £80m capex fund last year from French investor Tikehau Capital in exchange for a minority stake in Claranet.