Manchester technology brand UKFast is reaping the benefit of its investment in people, announcing half-year revenue of £22.9m, up 18% on H1 2016.
The firm increased average employee numbers by 26% with a recruitment drive in 2016 and is on track to turnover £46m, with an EBITDA of £21m this year, up from £40m and £17.6m respectively in 2016. CEO and founder Lawrence Jones MBE now employs over 400 people across his technology businesses.
Last year, 48% of UKFast’s revenue growth came from increased demand from existing customers, with 52% delivered through new client wins.
Jones said: “This is a culmination of 18 years’ hard work from a brilliant team that works continuously around the clock for incredible clients.”
Alongside investment in the UKFast team, the firm committed significant capital investment of £4.1m in infrastructure in the first half of this year, on top of the £7.6m spent last year.
Jones continued: ““A symbiotic relationship between cutting-edge tech and industry-leading customer service comes together to form what UKFast is all about.
“Investment in the very best equipment alongside investment in our people creates an incredible platform to provide outstanding service to our customers, giving us a brilliant foundation to build on and the capacity to continue growing in coming years.
“We’ve evolved this year, creating two divisions – UKFast and UKFast Enterprise. We continue to see increased interest in the eCloud brand, with Hybrid and Private cloud being a substantial growth area for our enterprise division.
“Our growth and retention demonstrates there is a need for our style of service. We don’t charge extra for bandwidth, processing power or for our outstanding support. We leave the surprise billing to our American friends! We offer an all-inclusive, no nonsense approach without hidden costs.
“Our customers are high-bandwidth industry professionals who need the absolute best service, with people on the phone day and night. And that’s our commitment to the industry.”
UKFast is set to double the size of its HQ in the second half of 2017, as it moves into the 40,000 sq ft building adjacent to its current campus, which it acquired in October 2016.