IT provider Onyx Group has hailed another strong year of growth as more companies looked to outsource their business to save cash.
The Stockton-based firm saw turnover rise 15% during 2012 to almost £20m, while continuing to keep in profit, and promised further growth this year.
“We are a growing business in a growing sector. I am not having to keep winning new customers as our contracts are long, but I am winning new customers because the offer is good.
“We expect to continue to see 15% growth a year,” said chief executive Neil Stephenson. “I am happy to say that we can triple the size of the business. There is a lot of room in the market in this country and there is still a long way to go for us.”
The business, which now has five data centres and six workplace recovery centres nationwide, still has most of the £15m war chest it landed from London-based Isis Equity when it bought a £27m majority stake in the business over a year ago.
Onyx had just completed a series of six acquisitions in the preceding two years but has since kept a hold on its money.
“I know the money is there if I want to buy anything. We are shopping in the premier end of the market. But there hasn’t been anything for the last year,” said Stephenson.
Instead the 19-year-old business has chosen to invest in its portfolio, last year lavishing £2m on its Sheffield data centre to improve the technology.
And this year Onyx is looking to continue on the same tack, investing another £2m on improving services at centres in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Sheffield.
It will offer new services including mobile links between companies and their data, giving staff faster and better connectivity. It has also just ensured that its staff provide 24/7 cover.
The popularity of the work comes as businesses look to improve efficiency and save money by outsourcing their IT and taking advantage of cloud computing technology. But as well as big recent contracts with customers like Edinburgh Airport, which took £3m of outsourcing, the company is also working with the public sector as it strives to make savings and one of its biggest deals of last year was with Glasgow City Council.
There is also an increasing appetite for cloud-based IT which led Onyx to invest £250,000 into upgrading its cloud infrastructure. This enables data and applications to be accessed remotely and on devices such as smart phones and tablets to suit the changing way that companies do business.
Stephenson said: “It is still difficult out there, but I am seeing signs of recovery in the economy and we are really a business which thrives on companies looking to save money. I am very confident.”
Onyx’s success has appeared in the Times Tech Track 100, Deloitte Fast 500 and the Investec Hot 100.
