IT infrastructure provider Softcat amassed revenues of £395.8m in its 2013 financial year, up 30% up on 2012. Gross profit grew 25% year-on-year in line with growth in operating expenditure of 27%, resulting in £28.2m normalised operating profit. This represents an increase of 22% on the previous year and a 7.1% return on sales.
In the last three financial years Softcat has increased turnover by 172% from £145.8m to £395.8m and operating profit has increased 174% in the same period, representing 40% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) for both metrics.
This has been achieved organically and against the backdrop of an industry showing low single digit growth figures for the period.
Softcat's growth has largely been achieved by maintaining and growing its existing accounts, by developing its offering and by winning large numbers of new accounts. In the last financial year the company traded with a record 1,750 new accounts.
Softcat continues to enjoy strong growth in its traditional SMB business and commercial mid-market heartland, and this is now being augmented by very strong growth in the public sector market and increasingly larger enterprise customers in the commercial sector.
In the last financial year the company achieved double digit growth in all of its core areas of business. Particularly strong growth was achieved in the data centre infrastructure and managed services areas.
This was partially due to the transition in the market to cloud-based and notably private cloud-based solutions. Softcat offers the component parts and services for customers to build their own clouds and equally the company offers managed services to provide cloud-based infrastructure for customers. The company also benefited from the shift in the market to more centralised computer solutions and increasingly diverse mobility solutions, with the resulting high demand for world-class connectivity, networking and security solutions.
The company recruited over 200 new employees, the majority of which joined on its graduate intake programme. It recruited new staff in all areas of the business and for each of its Marlow, Manchester and London locations. The company was named as the 4th Best Workplace in the UK and the 10th Best Workplace in Europe by the Best Workplaces organisation for its size category. Staff numbers increased from 432 on 31 July 2012 to 558 on 31 July 2013.
Martin Hellawell, Executive Chairman, said: "Our formula remains very much the same - employ lots of great people with the right attitude, strive to be a great place to work for our employees and provide world-class customer service. That's our focus as well as constantly and relentlessly trying to improve every part of the business and taking full advantage of every opportunity the changing market gives us.
"The financials are just a result of sticking to that formula. Bringing in Colin Brown as our Managing Director at the beginning of the financial year has significantly strengthened the Softcat leadership team and I have been incredibly impressed by the commitment, adaptability and enthusiasm demonstrated by all the Softcat employees throughout the financial year. There is tremendous momentum running throughout the company and while we still have so much to improve on, the outlook looks extremely positive."
Colin Brown, MD, added: "2013 was a year of great progress for Softcat. We won a record number of new customers, recruited more new talent into the business than ever before, and delivered our best ever customer satisfaction results.
"As the new man on the block I have been taken aback by the dynamism of the company, the friendliness of the employees and the overall spirit that is pervasive in Softcat. The relationships we enjoy with one another as team members as well as with customers and partners are second to none and I am sure that is fuelling our growth.
"But we have just started our journey in many aspects of the business and we have a very clear road map ahead with absolutely no shortage of opportunity or work to do. I'm personally relishing the challenge ahead of us and thank all the Softcat employees, customers and partners for their fantastic support in my first year at Softcat."