The strong performance in the second half of the year was driven by the successful re-organisation of the Group into three separate operating divisions, completed earlier in the year. The re-organisation, following a series of acquisitions over the previous two years, positioned ATC to service fully the entire market and encouraged cross selling across all divisions. In addition, following the investment in the Group’s sales teams in the first half, ATC successfully secured a multi-million pound contract with BT for a combination of products and maintenance, as well as significant contracts with HMV, Dixons and Relate in the second half.
The Board expects to report net debt at the year-end of approximately £15.9m, reflecting much improved operating cash conversion in the final quarter of the year. The Group expects to build upon this cash generation in 2008, leading to further reductions in net debt. In addition, the Board is pleased to announce a further strengthening of ATC’s financial position with a recent refinancing of the Group’s bank facilities on significantly improved terms.
Alex Tupman, CEO said:- “We have had a very clear strategy to date which has been focused on growing our product and service offering via select acquisitions to achieve UK wide coverage. This has been very successful with ATC now in an enviable position of being able to provide businesses across all markets and of any size, with a complete ‘best of breed’ ICT proposition. This is a market leading and highly competitive position to be in at a time when organisations are increasingly seeking to rationalise their supplier base.
At the same time, we have also invested heavily in our sales capability in order to target larger, higher margin contracts, which in turn are generating a strong new business pipeline and healthy operating cash flows, a key area of focus for 2008 and beyond. Our prospects, looking forward, are very encouraging and I will update shareholders on further progress in due course.”