Stone Group reports 25 per cent turnover growth despite 'extremely challenging' 2020

'Record first quarter' followed by 'period of uncertainty, CEO Simon Harbridge says

Stone Group saw its turnover increase by 25 per cent during 2020 despite a "period of uncertainty" caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Turnover for the year stood at £117.81m, up from £94.17m in 2019, while EBITDA was reported as £4.24m, up marginally compared to the previous year's £4.18m.

It comes despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, which Stone Group said had caused its second quarter to be "extremely challenging" following a first quarter of "record trading results".

"The strategy of delivering growth through the addition of net new customers whilst expanding the range of products and services offered to the existing customer base continued to prove successful and continues to provide confidence for further, profitable growth in 2021 and beyond," CEO Simon Harbridge said in the results.

"The second quarter proved to be extremely challenging for Stone, along with the majority of businesses in the UK, as the national lockdown prevented our ITAD and engineering services from operating.

"Trading was also impacted by the uncertainty as to how long lockdown measures would be required, with our school and university customers particularly affected."

The Stafford-based reseller, which offers a range of services including hardware, IT solutions and managed services primarily to the public sector, also saw a £1m increase in its gross profits, which rose to £19.3m.

But Harbridge warned of more uncertainty caused by the pandemic, which he said "continues to cause concern" because of its potential to "disrupt demand" and pose "increased risk" to the market.

However, he offered a positive outlook for this year, claiming the company has "entered 2021 with momentum" and traded "ahead of plan" during the first quarter "despite the challenges faced because of the third national lockdown".