Key points
2 Softcat
Gross invoiced income: £1.41bn (+31%)
Net profit margin: 4.8% Staff: 1,330
With its purple patch showing no signs of abating, Softcat's market cap recently breached the £2bn mark - making it nearly as valuable as some of the vendors it carries, including Mimecast and Sophos.
The FTSE 250 firm's ultimate top line - which it now terms ‘gross invoiced income' (GII) rather than revenue - boomed 31 per cent to £1.41bn in its year to 31 July 2019, topping the 30 per cent growth it logged in its fiscal 2018.
Growth was "broad based", CEO Graeme Watt stressed, with software GII ballooning 40 per cent to £788.9m, hardware up 23.5 per cent to £453m and services expanding 14 per cent to £172.2m. All eight of its regional offices operating throughout the period showed "positive progression".
Softcat's ‘revenues' - which no longer encompass revenue streams it has been forced under new accounting rules to "net down" - fell tantalising short of the £1bn marker, hitting £991.8m. Net profits, meanwhile, leapt from £55m to £68.5m.
In a recent interview with CRN, Watt said his job is to build on Softcat's heritage of growing domestically while developing its "multinational/international" strategy.
"At some point in the future, it will become tougher to grow market share, and we have other options in the locker. Good companies do things in parallel," he said.
