BNS confident it will be back in the black

Aug 6 2008 by Chris Knox, The Journal

A TELECOMS group in the North East believes it is set to get back into the black again this year after opening an office in the South and launching a scheme which pays companies to take phone calls.

Northumberland-based BNS says it will recover market share and make a profit for the rest of 2008 after the stock market listed company posted a £1.16m loss in the six months to the end of January 31.

Its recent poor performance led to the closure of its loss making network services division last year and raised concerns of redundancies.

However, the Prudhoe-based firm is confident it is now heading in the right direction and has opened an office in Reading to push sales in the south. The office has added five jobs to its 250-strong workforce.

It plans to double the 200 staff it employs in the North East over the next two years in order to help it become one of the biggest telecoms businesses in the country.

Despite the losses, the firm saw its revenues climb 44% to £16.39m in the six months to January 31 and now expects to strongly increase its £40m annual turnover in the next couple of years. It is also hoping to expand its offices in Birmingham, which houses 3g Comms – the Midlands mobile phone specialist it acquired in April.

Marketing director Andrew Crawford said: “We certainly want to become one of the top 200 firms in the North East by next year as we begin to grow our national presence. We are definitely looking to become a profitable company by next year as a result.

“Don’t get me wrong, we are proud to be based in the North East, but the type of service we provide means we can work with businesses up and down the country.”

The AIM listed company, which was set up 10 years ago to provide telecoms systems for medium to large businesses, has also launched a new “cash for calls” scheme which pays businesses for receiving incoming calls.

The product, available to firms already fitted with BNS systems, pays 0.1p per minute or £1 for every 1,000 minutes. BNS, who will pay to service the marketing scheme, point out that businesses with six lines receiving five hours of inbound calls per day would receive £50 a month.

Crawford said: “This is just one of the innovative ways that we are marketing ourselves to the nationwide business community. Now we are without the loss-making side to our business, we expect to be successful in achieving short-term growth and are putting in a lot of investment to make sure that happens.”