Earnings continue to grow at ANS Group

ANS Group, the Manchester-based cloud computing provider, has reported a ninth consecutive year of profit growth.

According to figures released by the company for the 12 months to the end of March 2013, pre-tax profits grew 72% to £3.1m, but turnover dipped by £3m to £44m.

It said profits were helped by customer wins with Salford City Council and higher education institutions, and from its Flexpod i3 system which is used to deliver cloud computing services.

Turnover was lower due to a £6m planned reduction in Government procurement work which the firm described as “low margin pass-through sales”. After stripping this out ANS said turnover was up by 7%.

During the period ANS invested £1.4m in both capital projects and personnel which led to a 30% increase in staff to nearly 200, including additions to the sales force to push the company in the south.

Managing director Paul Sweeney said: “Our strategic model of growing our fully managed service offerings, with our on-premise FlexPod i3 solutions and the momentum of i3 for cloud solutions, is driving our overall profitability.

“The growth of managed service and recurring revenues now accounts for over 50% of the total gross margin of the business. With the positive outlook for our services I would expect to see this figure reach 80% over the next two years.”

Chairman and founder Scott Fletcher said: “These positive results are a testament to the quality and dedication of our work force, which is now approaching 200. As we continue to recruit high quality individuals, with the working knowledge and expertise to deliver solutions, we can provide the high quality which often exceeds our customer’s expectations.”

ANS said it plans to appoint around 60 apprentices over the next two years.

Meanwhile, Mr Fletcher has joined the board of the University of Manchester’s technology transfer company UMI3, as a non-executive director.

UMI3’s chief executive Clive Rowland said: “We are always open to supplementing our in-house technology transfer expertise with experienced entrepreneurs who know what it is like to build a successful company from scratch and Scott fits that bill perfectly.”