Glasgow-based Iomart has generally been a steady if somewhat pedestrian member of London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) since listing in 2000, but with the appointment of a new chairman set to lighten her load chief executive Lucy Dimes has clearly got her sights on picking up the pace of growth.
The atmospheric rise of cloud computing has not been fully reflected in Iomart's performance, with the company failing to achieve double-digit organic growth for seven years running.
Accounts released this morning show that Iomart generated a record £127 million in revenue during the 12 months to the end of March, an increase of 10% on the previous year. Its largest division, cloud-managed services, enjoyed growth of 17% to £75m but after deducting the £9m in sales from three recent acquisitions the organic growth figure fell to just 3%.
Against that backdrop, Ms Dimes is doubling down on M&A with a "bigger, better, bolder" strategy. From average annual revenues of between £7m and £10m in years past, future acquisitions will have annual sales of up to £20m.
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“Greater scale in the public cloud area would be good, and any kind of supplementary capability in the cyber area would also be good," she said. "They remain our two focus areas.”
Ms Dimes has held the post of both chair and chief executive at Iomart since September 2023, when former CEO Reece Donovan – who largely steered the company through Covid and its aftermath – stepped down suddenly.
Seasoned board director Richard Last has now been appointed as independent non-executive chair, freeing up some of Ms Dimes' time to further focus on the growth agenda.
Mr Last has extensive experience across quoted and private companies in the technology services sector. During the past six years he has held chair positions at Hyve Group, Gamma Communications, Arcontech Group and Servelec Group.
“I am very much looking forward to working with the board to leverage these strong foundations and support the group in realising its growth ambitions," Mr Last said.
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