Expanding Emax plans to double sales to £20m

Sep 25 2008 by Graeme King, The Journal

AN expanding call centre operator on Tyneside aims to recruit nearly 2,000 staff and more than double sales to £20m as it signs up new clients.

Emax Outsourcing markets itself as offering a service that is a cut above the average call centre, with a multi-lingual staff servicing contracts across Europe and even further afield.

Such has been the success of the business model that Emax expects to double its sales annually over the next two to three years from the £8m expected this year, and quickly surpass its ambitious £20m target.

The company has just moved into a new 130-seat call centre in the Cobalt Business Exchange in North Tyneside, next door to the Fabriam Centre where its HR and finance staff were already based.

Now the plan is to let another floor of the building with a further 180 seats by the end of this year, and boost staff numbers from 120 today to around 400, before further recruitment in the months and years ahead.

The company says it pays slightly higher salaries than rivals in the call centre industry, operates a “business smart” dress code, and has kitted out its offices with gaming machines and satellite television in an effort to retain staff.

Co-founder Paul McFarling said: “Turnover in our first year was £76,000, which was six years ago, and this year we will do £8m. Within the next two to three years, we can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t double that figure each year.

“People like working here. We have one of the lowest attrition rates in the market, and one of the highest referral rates, without offering incentives, from people already working here.”

The company is owned and operated by managing director Martin Meikle-Small, Mr McFarling, and their third partner Stewart Guy.

John Williams, general manager of Fabriam, said: “When Emax first moved into the Fabriam Centre, they only had two members of staff in the North East. Now their operation has 120 people and growing. Fabriam can offer tenants prestigious premises from one person up to 100 people. And if they outgrow this, there are other premises, like the Cobalt Business Exchange, nearby.”