US expansion for Europlus Direct

IBM services and support company Europlus Direct is set to increase turnover this year after being given the green light to launch an office in the US.

Saltaire-headquartered Europlus, run by Jim Hart, has established the office in Tampa, Florida, and has started trading from it this week.

Europlus, a finalist in TheBusinessDesk.com’s 2012 Yorkshire Business Masters awards, has been set up as a ‘tier one’ services business partner.

The company already has offices in a number of African countries, as well as in Australia, South Africa and Europe.

Chief executive Jim Hart said the market to sell IBM services in the US was potentially worth £4m a year for Europlus.

Mr Hart said the company, which employs more than 40 staff, had grown turnover from £5.4m in 2011 to £7.2m last year.

Europlus expects to turnover between £8m and £9m in 2013, Mr Hart said.

He said: “It has taken us several years to break into the US market but the persistence and hard work from the Europlus team has paid off. The US is potentially our largest market and could add on another £3m in turnover.

“Having a legal entity in the US should give us more opportunities with IBM Worldwide in the areas where we operate – IBM maintenance contracts and IBM spare parts provision.

“This will also ensure that our customers moving into the US market can buy IBM services at competitive prices from Europlus.”