Code Computerlove looks to London and overseas

MANCHESTER-based digital agency Code Computerlove is to open an office in London and is considering acquisitions.

The business, which develops websites for a number of high profile clients such as Oxfam, Greenpeace and HMV, is opening an office in Soho where a small team will manage existing clients and pitch for new work.

Co-founder Tony Foggett said the move was part of a future strategy for the business which could also see it launch overseas.

He said: “This year the immediate focus was a London presence and overseas markets… we’ll put an account team down there and we’ll still handle the majority of the production work up here.

“Unbelievably there are still organisations that won’t put you on a pitch if you don’t have a London address.”

The £5m turnover business, which has 80 staff, is celebrating 15 years in business and has averaged 20% year-on-year revenue growth. But Mr Foggett said the next period of growth could be fuelled by an acquisition.

“We’re accidental leaders really. We’ve learned how to run the business by being in the business. We’ve never done a purchase or a merger and the next period of our existence will involve getting out of that comfort zone and looking at other opportunities. That might include some of those things.

“But each time I look at an opportunity I think, ‘we could do that’, and I couldn’t tolerate the risk associated with it. Any purchase would be about gaining a specialism in a particular area of digital that we aren’t working in.”

The firm was founded by Mr Foggett along with Wini Tse and Lou Georgiou who had all worked together at events and marketing group WRG.

Mr Foggett added: “The interesting thing at this scale and size is the new opportunities that are open to us. It does feel like the three of us as shareholders are reaching a new period.”