38 Storm Technologies

Revenue: £103.4m (-8%)

Net profit: 2.1% Staff: 164

"Strict" cost controls introduced by Storm in calendar 2020 helped the Watford-based VAR swell annual net profits from £1.6m to £2.1m, despite an eight per cent revenue dip. The HP, HPE, Dell, Cisco, Microsoft, VMware and Citrix partner completed a redevelopment of its office and warehouse capacity in early 2021. It has also expanded its graduate development programme this year, incorporating 12 new business development executives in September.

Covid impact

The "exceptional circumstances" sparked by Covid halted a seven-year growth run for Storm (its revenues more than doubled to £112.6m between 2012 and 2019). Higher device sales during the WFH boom did enable it to boost gross margins from 15.9 to 17 per cent last year, however.