23. e92plus
Revenue: £51.4m (-7%)
Staff: 57
Specialism: Cybersecurity
Top vendors: Forcepoint, Trend Micro, Bitdefender, Cloudflare, Check Point, Ping Identity, Radware, iboss
HQ: Surbiton, Surrey
Covid dented the growth trajectory of this Surrey-based Check Point and Trend Micro distributor in calendar 2020, although its net profits widened from £954,000 to £1.6m even as revenues fell seven per cent to £51.4m.
The cybersecurity specialist was counting on growth in 2021 at the time of its 2020 strategic report, however, and is on course for 10 per cent growth in 2022 according to its CEO (see below).
Q&A with e92plus CEO Mukesh Gupta
What's been your biggest business highlight of 2022 so far?
We're ahead of last year's number by 10 per cent.
Do you expect to grow in 2022?
Yes we do, and ahead of the market rate.
Have you made any significant vendor signings in the last 12 months?
Expanding our partnership with HelpSystems brings huge opportunities - they have incredible potential with very ambitious plans - plus ZeroFox is a very exciting signing in the digital risk protection space and Cofense in phishing and email security.
Which emerging vendor/technology are you tipping for take-off in 2022?
A huge challenge with cybersecurity is the need for technology not to work in isolation - so we're seeing growth in both security platforms that offer a joined-up approach, as well as solutions like API security to help secure inter-connected apps and networks.
How is the chip shortage impacting you, and when will it end?
Not at all - it's mostly about software and cloud for us, that's where we can add real value, it's not just based on shipping tin.
2022 has seen a couple of blockbuster distribution mergers already. What M&A trends do you expect to see over the next 12 months?
It will always continue, but it has demonstrates the value distribution continues to deliver, and while we carry on doing that, M&A will continue.
We're ahead of last year's number by 10 per cent
What, if any, role does distribution have to play when it comes to sustainability?
We have to help drive the change, beyond reducing our own carbon footprint.
What's been your biggest business mistake?
Using cheap lawyers!
Which Microsoft partner grew by over a fifth in its latest year? See next page for the answer...
