Midwich joins £1bn club as it outgrows wider AV market

AV distributor hit organic growth of 20.7 per cent last year, almost double that of the wider AV market

Midwich smashed the £1bn revenue mark in 2022 as it grew at twice the pace of the wider audio visual market - according to figures it cited.

The Diss-based audio visual distributor saw its top line power up 41 per cent to £1.2bn in the 12 months to 31 December 2022 as the AV market "largely returned to normal" following two years of disruption.

Midwich's 2022 numbers were bolstered by its acquisitions of UK distributors DVS and Nimans in January and February of the period.

Even so, organic growth stood at a sky high 20.7 per cent - virtually double the 10.5 per cent growth Midwich claims the wider AV market recorded last year.

Originally a UK-only distributor, Midwich now serves 22,000 AV integrators and IT resellers globally.

Citing figures from AVIXA, Midwich non-executive chairman Andrew Herbert said the pro-AV market is forecast to grow by an average of 5.9 per cent a year for the next five years, a figure he predicted the 1,500-employee outfit will continue to top.

"Despite the scale of the group's revenue in 2022, it represented less that one per cent of the global Pro AV market which provides significant opportunity for future growth," he said.

Business breakdown

Midwich carries 600 vendors in product categories such as large format displays, projectors and digital signage. Recent projects include kitting out the Royal Albert Hall (pictured below) with lighting.

The LSE-listed distributor's UK&I business saw revenues boom 72 per cent to £492m last year (with organic growth standing at 18 per cent), while its EMEA arm grew 17 per cent to £535m (organic growth of 17 per cent).

Revenues hiked 78 per cent to £123.1m at Starin, its North American business (60 per cent organic growth in constant currencies), with AsiaPac revenues up 19 per cent to £53.8m (14 per cent growth in constant currencies).

Mainstream products - ie displays and projects - generated 40 per cent of the group total, down from 50 per cent in 2021. The former grew by 16 per cent in 2022 and is now 30 per cent larger than it was in the pre-Covid year of 2019, Midwich noted.

Higher-margin ‘specialist' categories that require greater pre- and post-sales support, including audio, technical video and broadcast, rose from 43 to 54 per cent of the total.

'Confident of excess growth'

Midwich managing director Stephen Fenby (pictured above) stressed that 2022 saw the strongest annual growth in the distributor's history, as he expressed confidence for the year ahead.

"The impact of the pandemic reduced somewhat in the period, with product shortages easing (but not completely) and the cost of shipping containers reducing significantly during the year," he said.

"We saw the resumption of a significant part of the live events and hospitality markets, and the corporate market strengthened during the year.

"Although still early into the new financial year and mindful of the slower general economic conditions and higher interest rate environment, we remain confident that 2023 will see yet another year of growth in excess of the overall market."