46. Maintel

Revenue: £101.3m

Maintel’s FY2023 results marked a long-awaited turning point for the mid-market comms specialist, which spent much of the year executing a top-to-bottom transformation plan designed to streamline operations, cut costs and refocus on higher-growth areas. The strategy has paid off. Revenues rose 11.3 per cent to £101.3m, while adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to £9.1m, putting the firm firmly back in the black after a turbulent few years impacted by semiconductor shortages and pandemic-era upheaval.

The company’s restructure saw it shed its image as a generalist managed services provider, repositioning around three strategic pillars: unified communications & collaboration, customer experience, and security & connectivity. These areas, Maintel argues, are now critical for clients navigating hybrid work, multi-cloud environments, and rising security demands. cloud and SD-WAN growth was particularly robust, with cloud revenues up 24.7 per cent and data connectivity bouncing back with 11.4 per cent growth.

Maintel also reported a 25.6 per cent surge in one-off tech and professional services revenue as it worked through a long-delayed order book, and was rewarded with an uplift in recurring revenue as new projects went live. Notable customer wins in 2023 included Vanquis Banking Group, Harrods, Kingfisher IT Services and several NHS Trusts via the NS3 public sector framework.

Leadership remains in flux, however. Carol Thompson stepped down as executive chair in April 2024, while CTO and acting marketing lead has taken on interim CEO duties. The hunt for a permanent CEO and new independent chair is underway as the firm sets its sights on organic growth, margin improvement and further specialisation in high-CAGR segments. For now, Maintel insists the transformation is done and FY2024 will be about capitalising on it.