By Mark Williamson
GLASGOW-based iomart has underlined its appetite for acquisitions with deals worth tens of millions a possibility as the firm benefits from more firms moving to cloud-based computing systems.
After iomart posted strong growth in first half sales chief executive Angus MacSween said the group remained committed to using acquisitions to complement organic growth and was active in the area.
Technology pioneer hails quality of staff available in Glasgow
He said iomart wants to be a consolidator in what remains a fragmented market. With £40 million bank facilities available iomart would not hesitate to commit that sort of amount to the right deal.
iomart is confident of increasing annual revenues to £200 million in coming years, from £104m in the latest year, amid growing interest in the kind of services it provides.
The company runs data centres that house powerful servers. Customers can run their IT and internet systems on these or use them for back up purposes.
iomart adds dealmaker Steele to its board
“There is more data being produced every day, more people are looking to outsource their IT infrastructure, complexity continues to grow; everything is in our favour longer term,” said Mr MacSween.
iomart is preparing to introduce a managed security service under which it will monitor computer facilities housed in customers’ offices. This may lead to an increase in employee numbers in Glasgow, from 250 currently.
The company grew revenues to £55.1 million in the six months to September 30, from £50.9m in the same period last year. First half underlying profits fell to £11.5m from £12.4m following £1m investment in the company’s sales function.
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