CogitalGroup has reported annualised revenues topping £450m, up 64% since its launch two years ago as a Big Four challenger, with half generated in the Nordic markets and half from the UK, and has indicated plans to build on its technology offerings and move into the US market
The international business services group, set up by ex-Deloitte chief John Connolly, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation hit £68m, up 64% since its launch.
Half (49%) of its revenue came from business process outsourcing (BPO), accounting, bookkeeping, compliance tax and global services, while 18% was derived from payroll and HR services, 15% from IT, 11% from consulting and just 7% from audit work.
During 2018 the group made 13 new acquisitions which added some 1200 employees. In total there are over 6,000 people working across seven countries and serving over 90,000 clients.
In September CogitalGroup completed its largest acquisition since launch, with Wilkins Kennedy adding over 700 people in 18 offices predominately in the south east of England, and revenues of £55m.
John Connolly, executive chairman, said: ‘In our first two years CogitalGroup has established itself as a business of size and scale, with client focus at the centre of everything we do. Having rapidly expanded through strategic acquisitions within the UK and Nordic markets, our clear focus is on continued organic growth and selected, smart M&A.
‘A key differentiator for CogitalGroup is our technology and the benefits this brings to our clients. CoZone, our unique cloud-based portal which offers the latest in smart technology and digitalisation to our clients is embedded in our Nordic businesses.
‘A major focus in the coming year will be the roll out of CoZone across our UK operations establishing CogitalGroup’s position as the leading technology driven business services group serving our chosen market segment.’
In its annual review, Blue 2018, CogitalGroup singled out Making Tax Digital (MTD) as an area in which it has invested resources and identified as representing significant opportunity.
Connolly said the group’s goal was ‘to be strongly positioned in the UK, wider European markets and North America’, and the annual report cited geographic expansion into new markets ‘with emphasis on North America and wider European markets.’
CogitalGroup has developed a nearshoring capability based on four centres in Romania which primarily supports its Nordic businesses.
Connolly said: ‘As we go forward we will be increasing further the nearshore production and extending the focus of this automated support across the group.’
He went on to state: ‘Achieving high organic growth is a key element of our strategy. Our increasing scale is bringing a wider range of skills into the business. We are exploiting these skills to bring more value added services to our client base and establishing industry and service line verticals to support client capture.’
CogitalGroup Blue 2018 is here
Report by Pat Sweet
