~rising stars~ 37. AppSense
Turnover: £20.7m (+14%) Pre-tax profits: £3.8m (+124%) Sector: Software Based: Manchester It has already been a big year for AppSense. In February, following its investment in Facebook, investment bank Goldman Sachs acquired a $70 million (£43 million) shareholding in the software and services business. AppSense chief executive Darron Antill says the business will use the funds to continue developing, having already grown its global customer base to 4,000 customers. AppSense specialises in ‘user virtualisation’, a software/service that enables employees of a company to access work documents and programs on any desktop or mobile device. Its clients include British Telecom, ESPN, JPMorgan Chase and United Airlines. Antill says growth will continue to rise with the increasing use of cloud and mobile device platforms.
39. Access
Turnover: £28m (+13%) Pre-tax profits: £5.5m (+25%) Sector: Software Based: Colchester, Essex The management buy-out of consulting, software and solutions provider Access UK saw it named ‘Buy-out of the Year’ at the M&A Awards in June 2011. The £50 million deal, which took place in March, involved the existing management teaming up with Lyceum Capital to buy the company from its founder. The goal this year is to deliver another period of double-digit revenue growth. CTO Stuart Allsop says, ‘We’ve worked very hard to provide to our customers what they want to receive. We’re looking to increase our organic turnover, and looking at who we can work with in the marketplace to see if there are any good synergies.’
38. CableCom Networking
Turnover: £8.2m (+2%) Pre-tax profits: £2.1m (+29%) Sector: IT and Media Based: Somerset Founded in 1988, CableCom designs and installs intelligent data networks, which can include cabling delivery and CCTV. It has shown significant growth in the past two years in its core student accommodation market, with its services now reaching more than 200,000 students across the UK. Moreover, it has successfully moved into the residential accommodation market by securing a seven-year contract with the MediaCityUK site in Salford, Greater Manchester. Directing all of these advances is Mark Burchfield, the CEO who led the management buy-out of the group in 2007.
40. YCO Group
Turnover: £27m (+9%) Pre-tax profits: £588,000 (+1,756%) Sector: Leisure Based: London YCO, the only UK-listed super-yacht business, has continued to grow worldwide with the yacht sales and brokerage business undertaking a restructuring aimed at improving cross-selling services amongst its subsidiaries and reducing operating costs by consolidating its board. Its focus during the past year was centred on bolstering its brokerage arm, a strategy which began with the procurement of four brokers from a competitor. Profit has been achieved despite ongoing global expansion, with a number of new contracts secured in the past year.
41. Blue Earth Foods sector split
Turnover: £14.8m (+363%) Pre-tax profits: £381,000 (loss in previous year) Sector: Food Based: Redditch, Worcestershire Blue Earth Foods supplies chilled seafood products to retailers throughout the UK and Europe. The company specialises in sourcing ingredients from responsible producers, monitoring those ingredients from source to end product in its own manufacturing facilities. Focusing on sustainability through responsible fishing practices has enabled the business to deliver a startling turnaround, with the group moving into the black last year as revenues soared. The company also stands for ‘secure jobs’ and ‘fair wages’.
42. Gibbs S3
Consumer/retail IT
Business services
Manufacturing Health/Biotech
Turnover: £10.3m (+456%) Pre-tax profits: £488,000 (loss in previous year) Sector: Recruitment Based: Surrey Gibbs S3 is an IT staffing and technology resourcing business founded by CEO Farida Gibbs in 1990. It styles itself as Europe’s fastest growing IT staffing outfit, emphasing its global reach and its impressive roster of FTSE 100 clients. Like most of its peers it was hit hard by the financial downturn, but revenues recovered strongly last year.
business xl 37
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