Arena Group ahead of targets

ARENA Group, the document management services company, has set itself ambitious plans to take on 70 new staff over the next three years after moving ahead of its projected targets.

Established 21 years ago, Wakefield-based Arena has grown to boast 150 employees and has grown annual turnover from £12m in 2008 to £17m this year. Arena wants to grow this to £20m by 2015.

The company works with clients operating in sectors including schools, housing associations, automotive suppliers and building societies.

Clients include Lookers, LSL Property Services, York High School and Barnsley College.

Adrian Fitzpatrick, managaing director and founding partner of the business, said: “We started when the print and copy industry was at an all-time low – sales practices and service were very poor.

“Six of us set up Arena because we thought there was a better way. Initially we just sold and serviced photocopiers but over the years we have added a consultancy specialising in electronic document management.

“As technologies have developed we now do pretty much everything you need to manage documents efficiently and link them into your business systems.”

Arena has trained 21 staff to work in a number of roles across the company over the past five years through its apprenticeship scheme.

Reflecting on the last five years in business, Mr Fitzpatrick said: “We have steadily grown the business without any staff losses, even throughout the recession when we used the relatively quiet time to train up staff and get our cost base right in order to drive the business forward.”