56 European Electronique

Revenue: £75.3m (+18%)

Net profit: 1.2% Staff: 132

This education and public sector framework specialist saw revenues leap by nearly a fifth to £75.3m in its year to 31 March 2021 as its clients spent big on setting up staff and students to work/study from home. Net profit widened from £601,000 to £937,000. Higher and further education proved a sweet spot as the Oxfordshire-based HPE Aruba and Fortinet partner toasted wins with Oxford Brookes University, Kingston University, Petroc College and College of West Anglia.

Covid impact

Despite profiting from the work/study from home boom, European Electronique saw a number of large higher-education infrastructure projects delayed due to site access issues. Covid gave it an opportunity to "streamline" the business (average monthly staff numbers fell by 17 year-on-year), and it also used the government furlough scheme.