Sales up 25% to £5.4 million
Operating Profit doubles to £333,000
Continued Strong Cash Flow
Record levels of Capital Expenditure
Major investment in spares inventory
Networks First, a specialist maintainer of network infrastructures, has announced its financial results for the year ending 31st March 2006, reporting record revenues and profits for the second consecutive year.
Sales over the last 12 months were up 25% to £5.4 million, and operating profit doubled to £333,000. Networks First generated £2.5 million of new support business and £430,000 of new services business during the last year whilst engaging with 22 new partner organisations.
Record revenues and profits were generated against a background of major new investment in spares inventory, IT systems development and employee training – over £500,000 on spares, over £100,000 on IT/CRM investment and a 63% increase in employee training investment. Headcount also increased over this period to 48 staff - a 25% increase on the previous year.
Peter Titmus, Managing Director of Networks First, comments, “This has been another exceptionally strong year for Networks First and we have been very successful in sustaining our position as the UK’s largest specialist maintainer of network infrastructures. We have capitalised on the opportunities for business growth in the fast-growing IP telephony market, developing our skills and knowledge in this area through a sustained programme of staff training and the recruitment of new key people. This combined with our ongoing commitment to quality service, is giving us a clear edge over our competition – borne out by our exceptional new business closure rates and 86% renewals.”
Networks First is forecasting continued growth for the next 12 months - looking to increase sales by over 25% to £6.8 million. The company is also planning a further 25% increase in employee training investment, whilst also increasing headcount to 60+ staff in order to meet the anticipated demand for converged network support services.
However, if UK businesses are to realise the full benefits of convergence, then the massive disconnect that exists between data and telephony support operations needs to be addressed, according to Networks First. Titmus asserts, “While most vendors and resellers have created a strong converged sales force, few if any have yet attained a truly converged operational support team. Within organisations deploying converged networks the problem is just as great; too often even the technology decision making has been taken only by one group – primarily telephony. Is it any wonder that those responsible for the data infrastructure are loath to buy in to the converged concept?”
Titmus concludes, “Those organisations that have created a single team to manage the converged voice and data infrastructure have transformed network reliability and significantly increased up-time. It is time for the reseller channel to enhance that reliability by delivering truly converged support. And Networks First will be there to support and assist them!”