Which storage VAR has set itself an eight per cent profit margin goal?

Pan-European NetApp partner says it will actively hunt for acquisitions as it looks to develop its portfolio

Storage integrator Proact will shoot for eight per cent profit margins as part of its raised financial outlook for the coming years.

The Sweden-based firm will strive to consistently hit an eight per cent EBITA margin and post at least 10 per cent year-on-year revenue growth for each financial year.

Proact will also strive to grow its returns on capital to at least 25 per cent, while maintaining a long-term dividend of 25 to 35 per cent of after-tax profits each year.

In order to achieve its new targets, Proact will "further develop" its cloud services portfolio, with data storage, hybrid cloud, networking, security, applications and automation named areas of "increasing importance". The firm will also look to improve its IT infrastructure offering.

It claims that it will continue to grow organically, but will also actively look for acquisition opportunities in existing and new markets.

Jonas Hasselberg, who took over this year from interim CEO Peter Javestad after former chief exec Jason Clarke departed last December, said: "Over the years, Proact has established a strong customer focus as well as specialist expertise in IT infrastructure and cloud services. Today we have a unique position in all our markets and we see a clear potential to increase the growth pace. The updated financial targets reflect the ambition of profitable growth, which will be achieved through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions."

Proact surpassed its previous margin target in Q4 of 2016 when its pre-tax profit margins raced passed the five per cent mark to 5.7 per cent. The five per cent target was set several years ago by a previous CEO.

The new financial targets come after Proact posted buoyant interim financials for the first nine months of the year, which saw pre-tax profits increase by 13 per cent to SEK 88.3m (€8.57m) on revenues that came in flat at SEK 2.3bn.

The integrator changed its accounting standards to IRFS 15 at the start of the year, which resulted in revenues falling by 13 per cent annually.