IN an interview with The Herald in September, Tom O’Hara said the progress made by Kick ICT had exceeded his own expectations since the firm’s inception in 2015.
Now, after completing the paperwork on its fourth acquisition in three years, he may well be having to reshape his forecasts for the business yet again.
Having targeted increasing net profit from £61,000 in 2016 to £340,000 the following year, the company found itself on track to exceed that benchmark by £200,000.
The growth in profits, which came as turnover doubled to £2.4 million between 2016 and 2017, is perhaps more remarkable given that Talon Business Solutions, the consultancy whose acquisition marked the arrival of Kick on the IT scene, was in the doldrums at the time of the deal.
“It’s everything, the ducks have lined up and the stars have aligned at the same time,” Mr O’Hara said at the time. “It was just one of those years.
He added: “It has gone better by a factor than we had expected, because obviously when we bought into the Talon business two and a half years ago it was struggling.”
Now it looks like the good run has been on since 2015 is showing no signs of running out of steam.
The company, which trades as Talon, said it has cemented its position as the biggest independent provider of IT services to SMEs in Scotland by acquiring Bellshill’s Castle Computer Services.
At a stroke, the deal gives the group a combined turnover of more than £12 million (Castle turned over £9m to Talon’s expected £3.6m this year) while swelling its headcount by 75 staff.
Mr O’Hara, who had an illustrious career in IT before setting up Kick with Alan Turnbull and David Chazan, said the group will take its time before doing any further deals. However, with the momentum seemingly in its favour, and opportunities for more in the pipeline, it is unlikely to be its last.
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