Amor Group announces strong results as it celebrates first anniversary

Leading Scottish business technology solutions provider Amor Group is marking its first anniversary today with the announcement of strong results for its initial year of trading, including a near doubling of profits.

John Innes, Chief Executive Officer of Amor Group

The group, which was established in May 2009 to acquire two businesses from the Sword Group, has achieved turnover of £30million, with major continued growth forecast for 2010.

Reported pre-tax profits for the group’s trading arm, Amor Business Technology Solutions Ltd, show a total of almost £4.6million, compared to £2.7million in 2008 (under Sword Group). Turnover in 2008 was £23.8million.

Amor Group is one of the UK’s leading transport and business technology solutions providers, with a global client list including NATS, BAA and BMI.

The group also provides business technology solutions, professional services and managed services to the energy and public sectors and has generated new orders worth £23million over the past 12 months.

Oslo Airport is among the list of new clients, having appointed Amor Group to install its innovative PAXTrax+ solution to measure queues at the airport.

Since the £28million management buyout of Pragma and Real Time Amor Group has employed an additional 70 staff, bringing the total number of employees to 400, including four new sector sales directors.

The group has established Amor LLC in the USA and opened new offices in Houston, to service its growing client base in North America, and Coventry, which is home to a number of key clients in the public sector – a rapidly growing area thanks to Amor Group’s position on several national buying frameworks.

Amor Group also created a dedicated marketing department and introduced employee initiatives that recognise performance and success, and encourage contributions to the growth of the business in return for a share of profits.

John Innes, Chief Executive Officer of Amor Group, said the strong results paved the way for the company to achieve its goal of increasing turnover to £60million by 2012.

“These strong results for our first year of trading reinforce our belief in our business plan, which allowed us to raise nearly £30million to fund the MBO during the most severe economic recession in modern times, and are testament to the commitment of our staff,” he said.

“We are now firmly established as Amor Group and by delivering these strong results in 2009, we move forward with renewed confidence in our plan that will double our revenue and improve our quality of earnings by 2012.

“Our key markets – the energy, transport and public sectors – afford significant growth potential and we will also identify, acquire and integrate organisations that enhance our capability and position in these areas.”

Increasing international sales is a key priority for Amor Group, which aims to export its solutions and achieve 20% of total revenue from overseas sales.

With turnover for 2010 forecast to be £32.7million and projected profits at more than £6million, John Innes predicts massive change in the ICT industry over the coming years.

“We expect our customers to increasingly rely on third parties like us to design, assemble and deliver the ICT processes, applications, and infrastructure to support their business.

“We also anticipate a change in our business model, moving more towards volume and transaction based commercial arrangements, so we’re developing the scale, capability and flexibility to give customers the choice to do what’s right for their individual business.

“Our solutions deliver better operational performance and regulatory compliance for our customers. These drivers are expected to remain at the top of the business agenda as we continue to expand,” he added.

With more than 20 years experience in the IT industry, Amor Group is headquartered at India of Inchinnan, Glasgow, with offices in Aberdeen and Edinburgh as well as Coventry and Houston.

www.amorgroup.com