Commsworld heads towards expansion after turnover rise

COMMSWORLD, the Edinburgh-based telecoms group, is gearing up for an "expansion surge" after high-profile business wins boosted its annual turnover by a fifth.

The company, which was founded in 1994 as a reseller of telephone systems and has ridden out the dotcom crash, said growth this year would be aided by a recent six-figure investment.

According to figures just released covering the 12 months to the end of December 2005, turnover at the city firm rose by 20 per cent to just under 5 million - a rate of growth set to double this year. Although a profit figure has not been disclosed, Commsworld said its performance over 2005 was marked by a number of key business wins, including Scotmid, architectural practice RMJM, Mathiesons the bakers, data storage giant Iron Mountain and Edinburgh travel group Globespan.

The contracts involve a range of specialised telelcoms services, including wireless technology and call centre development.

Commsworld co-founder and business development director, Ricky Nicol, described last year's hike in sales as "significant" as the group looks to drive forward its growth predictions.

Last year, it completed an exercise to raise 700,000 in funding and also recruited leading financier Ian Blackford, the former head of Deutsche Bank's Netherlands-based equity business, for a key non-executive role at the Capital company.

Mr Nicol said today: "The returns show just how far the company has developed and clearly underlines our credentials as the dominant player in Scotland's independent voice and data solutions provider sector.

"This together with the appointment of Ian Blackford and the funding package has allowed us to look to target the country's bigger enterprise firms in a concerted drive.

"Many of Scotland's larger businesses, call centres and local authorities are serviced by English-based companies that have a token presence in Scotland.

"We believe that with the relationships that we have established with key manufacturers, Commsworld is ideally placed to serve this market."

Commsworld, which has additional offices in Glasgow and Aberdeen, is predicting revenue gains of "at least 40 per cent" in 2006.

Highlighting the latest contract win with IT consultancy Sumerian Networks, he added: "Our aim now is to increase the size of our already impressive portfolio of clients."