Gross invoiced income: £1.44bn (+19%)
Headcount: 861
This LSE-listed software reseller (whose CEO, Neil Murphy, is pictured above) threw down the gauntlet to larger rivals Softcat and Computacenter by registering “exceptional” growth in its H1 2024.
Bytes’ gross invoiced income leapt 38% to £1.08bn in the six months ending 31 August 2023, thanks to some meaty public sector Microsoft licensing wins with the likes of the NHS and HMRC.
That’s double the 19% top-line uplift the Leatherhead-based outfit recorded in its last full year (ending 28 February 2023), when GII hit £1.44bn. Its headcount now tops 1,000.
The reduced margins associated with the initial year of these recent bumper wins did, however, weigh on Bytes’ bottom line. Its H1 2024 gross profit margin shrank from 8.3% to 7% year on year, while its operating profits improved at a slower rate than its top line, namely by 12% to £30.6m.
Oxygen ice-breaker: In May 2023, Bytes acquired a minority interest in Cloud Bridge Technologies, an AWS partner based Marlow – the home town of arch-rival Softcat. Cheeky!
