SCOTS technology group Kick ICT has targeted further acquisitions and expansion into England after hiking profits and turnover in its latest financial year.
The firm, led by IT veteran Tom O’Hara, increased turnover by nearly 200 per cent to £7.1 million in the year ended September 30, boosted by the acquisition of the bigger Bellshill-based Castle Computer Services in April.
The deal was Kick ICT’s biggest to date, following its previous acquisitions of Talon Business Solutions, Roxxap, and Vozero, and effectively created Scotland’s biggest independent IT services group focused on SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). It also ramped up Kick ICT’s presence in the English market, with the firm now giving serious consideration to setting up an office in London to support its growth south of the Border.
The firm’s accounts show that it made a pre-tax profit of more than £740,000, up from around £430,000. And Mr O’Hara said Kick ICT’s growth has continued in its current financial year, having booked turnover of £3.4m and net profit of £500,000 in the first three months. It means the firm is on course meet its £12.5m turnover and £2m profit target for the year. Mr O’Hara said : “It’s just strong in terms of the momentum.”
READ MORE: O'Hara has Kick to transform IT sector
Reflecting on the company’s progress since its launch in 2015, with the acquisition of Talon, Mr O’Hara said: “It has gone as well as we could possibly have envisaged”.
While Talon was under-performing at the time, turning over £600,000, Mr O’Hara said the skills and customer base it offered provided Kick ICT with a platform for growth, allowing it to subsequently acquire Roxxap and Vozero. And Mr O’Hara pledged there will be other takeover deals to come. He said: “We might do a deal in the next quarter. There’s a couple of irons in the fire. Effectively, it’s a combination of two businesses, which are complementary to us, and bringing them into the group. If it meets the parameters for these things, hopefully it will happen soon.”
READ MORE: Kick is king of Castle after latest takeover
Meanwhile, Mr O’Hara expressed dismay at the UK’s “self-serving and self-interested” politicians, whom he accused of prioritising politics over “finding the best common interest” to reach a solution to the Brexit impasse. He said: “I find them all very disappointing, to be honest.”
Mr O’Hara added: “It’s a real shame. You would hope people would pull together, but for their own reasons they don’t want to do that.”
The entrepreneur, who established Kick with Alan Turnbull and David Chazan, noted there could be regulatory implications from Brexit for clients which operate within the European Union (EU). Asked whether Brexit uncertainty was holding back investment decisions by its clients, he replied that IT and digital technology is now “so business critical these days that it has a slightly different momentum to other investment decisions.”
Mr O’Hara said: “You have to have a modern platform now, you have to have decent security around your IT environment.”
He added: “People (businesses) are getting more savvy about what they need from their IT and the level of quality of IT. It is a long way on from when you would buy a laptop from PC World and go and plug it in, and hope that everything is okay.”
Observing that major IT failures at companies have been caused by a lack of investment, he added: “It just comes home to roost.”
He added that a company’s IT system “doesn’t need to be absolutely bang up to date, modern, [and] hugely expensive, but it needs to be decent, fit for purpose and compliant.”
On the company’s priorities for the present financial year, Mr O’Hara said building business in England is currently a key focus. He said: “We have a lot of English-based customers now – it is a natural progression.”
Kick ICT currently employs more than 100 staff, having recently brought on its first graduate trainees, and hopes to grow staff numbers to 150 next year.
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