Circle IT targets £50m revenue with board changes

Founder Roger Harry appoints former Esteem Systems boss as his CEO successor

Circle IT is gunning for £50m revenues and has drafted in new board members to achieve this.

Roger Harry, founder of the Cardiff-based MSP, has appointed David Jones as his successor in the CEO role and Ben Marnham as chairman.

Jones was the chief executive of Wetherby-based Esteem Systems, which was acquired by Roc Technologies last year.

Harry told CRN that the changes to Circle's board were to rev up revenue growth. Circle's turnover was £10.8m for its year ended 30 November 2017, according to Companies House.

"We want to take it to the next level now, and going from £16m turnover up to £30m to £50m," he explained.

"I felt it needed a change and people with experience who have been there and done that before, hence the appointment of David and Ben.

"We need that more grown-up attitude to take the business onto the next level."

Harry will be handing the CEO reins to Jones and dedicating his time on the enterprise side of the business, developing relationships with key vendors and clients.

The founder chose to replace himself as CEO because of Jones' experience in heading up and growing companies.

"It's about experience and having someone that's been there two or three times already," he stated.

"I could potentially learn, but I'd make a lot of mistakes along the way and David is hitting the ground running.

"He's come from very similar roles two or three times now. So he'll be able to adopt that within the business to help it grow that much more quickly."

Harry was coy on the ramifications the board changes will have on the ownership structure of Circle, saying only that he remains the majority shareholder and that there would be some "share dilution" as Circle grows and acquires.

"We'll look at the right companies, when and as they come up," he said of the MSP's acquisition strategy.

"But we're also very open. We've got to £15m organically, so can we do that to £30m or £50m as well? What will that look like?

"So we're going to do some planning behind that to make sure we know what we're letting ourselves in for."