A positive message from Ali Saigar, our Group CFO, as we welcome in the new financial year on an upward trajectory.
With turnover up by 15%, 14 new customers and 3 M&A transactions completed, we can genuinely say we have thrived in a pandemic. Good old fashioned business fundamentals about managing customer concentration and industry diversification paid huge dividends as we were able to carry on, business-as-usual when the first lockdown was announced. Sadly however, we lost one customer to Administration.
As a board we decided to hold our nerve. None of our staff went on furlough and we pressed on with our plans to gain additional funding from BGF to drive our ambitious 5 year buy-and-build plan, and make our first acquisition – Delete agency. We have the beginnings of a digital powerhouse in the making!
We have since invested in the business to make sure that both companies were integrated well. We have re-orientated the business with three clear offers to the market around Product, Technology and Performance, and the whole integration was rapidly concluded within 6 months.
Our year end results just put the icing on the cake. Turnover up by 15% and profits by even more. All surpassing our pre-pandemic targets.
We have an exciting year ahead as we plan to further execute on our five-year plan. M&A activity has picked up and new customer enquiries have risen. Our new Lithuania office is coming along nicely. The macro-economics are looking positive. Brexit distractions are in the rear-view mirror and politically the UK is in a lull – which is good for business. The vaccine uptake is tremendous and this is allowing for freedoms to be restored. It is good news that taxes weren’t raised in the budget (other than Corporation Tax which is paid in arrears anyway) and the government stimulus over the lockdown period is likely to result in a spending boom in Q2 due to pent-up demand. There is a big spending wave to be ridden! The stock markets remain relatively buoyant and GBP is relatively stable against the USD (which is weak). ‘Super-deduction’ and R&D incentives from the government will further favour spending.
Within the business, our existing clients’ roadmaps look both buoyant and exciting. We are glad we held our nerve and strengthened the business during the pandemic. We are recruiting fast; welcoming ten new starters in the last 6 weeks in the UK alone. (10% of our UK workforce). We will continue to look after our people and add value to our clients by doing right by them, and we will continue to grow the business sustainably – Thank you to our clients, our employees and our partners for helping us to drive our growth ambitions forwards at pace. We look forward to and are very much in the driving seat for the new financial year.
To work with us or find out how you can become part of our future success story, get in touch.