'£100m revenue feels like it's within reach' Babble CEO resets growth targets after acquisition spree

CEO of acquisitive cloud communications reseller does not expect the business to 'slow down' next year

The CEO of acquisitive cloud comms provider Babble says the business has doubled in size over the past year - and believes that it could do so again by the end of 2022.

Babble brought the total number of acquisitions it has made to nine during the past year by adding Digital Communications Systems Ltd (DCS) and Halo Communications Ltd to the business last week.

Parker told CRN in January this year that he hoped to complete ten acquisitions in 2021 and set a revenue goal of £100m, but now says that the latter is already "within reach" and that the company's goals are growing "more ambitious".

"As we make more progress, we become more ambitious," Parker said.

"£100m seemed like a long, long way away but 100 million now seems and feels like it's in within reach. The business is twice the size it was 12 months ago and my expectation is that we've got the potential to grow as quickly in the next 12 months.

"With the £100m goal, it would be difficult to see when that's going to happen but as a business we're getting very close to 50 million revenue run rate, which is a very different organisation than the one last time we spoke.

"Somebody in this space will build a much, much bigger business than that number and I have no reason to think that we aren't at least as well placed as anybody else is."

Parker said that another acquisition, which will take the total number this year to the target of 10, is expected to follow and that he does not expect the business "to slow down" next year.

Babble has also expanded in Scotland recently by acquiring Dumfries-based 8020, as well as in the north-west and south coast of England through the acquisitions of Concert and 5 Rings respectively, and Parker said the vision for the business is to cover "large parts" of the UK.

"We're taking an approach that recognises that lots and lots of businesses in the mid-market like to deal with people locally and like to have people on the ground," he explained.

"We've got about 250 employees as it stands at the moment. We've got regional hubs that we're developing, we've got one in the south coast, one in London, we've got one that that's currently being refurbished in the Midlands, and I'm actually on my way to Newcastle to sign the heads on an office overlooking the Tyne.

"And clearly, we've now got a couple of offices in Scotland that we'll be looking at what we do around that.

"It's about building scale, building a national player in the space that serves customers in the way that they want to be served, which is by dealing with the people that they're used to dealing with and by putting together what is likely to be a high number of high quality businesses across the UK."