Revenue: £712.4m (+1%)
Net profit: 1.9% Staff: 1,750
Boasting interests in sectors including aviation, airports and hotels, Sir Peter Rigby's £3bn-revenue Rigby Group empire has not been immune to the pandemic.
Fortunately, the SCC technology business on which he built his name delivered robust growth during the year to 31 March 2021, with EMEA-wide revenues of £2.5bn representing an eight per cent annual hike.
That uplift was largely driven by SCC's €1.9bn-revenue French business, however, with its smaller UK arm defying a "dramatic decrease" in professional services projects in the first half of the period to record a more muted one per cent revenue rise. Although UK product sales jumped five per cent to £512m (with public sector up 12 per cent), services revenues rolled back 10 per cent to £200m as clients froze investments in the wake of the pandemic.
UK net profits were roughly flat at £13.4m, with SCC claiming £5.9m through the UK government's furlough scheme during the year.
Covid impact
Covid had a contrasting impact on SCC's product and services businesses last year, with the latter hit hard by project postponements.
SCC said the support it received through the furlough scheme "undoubtedly saved a number of jobs" but admitted that it was forced to make some cutbacks in roles where customer demand showed no imminent signs of rebounding. It exited the period in an upbeat mood, however, noting a trend of projects "being brought back to life" in a "strong" final quarter.
