The RESPONSE Group has continued to make excellent progress in the year to June 2014. The business has delivered sales growth of 27% which represents very strong performance in an
overall market that is growing at 3 % per annum. The last 12 months have seen existing and new client growth within its UK customer management business, together with growth globally from its software solutions business Inisoft.
During 2014 RESPONSE has made significant investments in the operating capability and infrastructure of the business. Reducing the spans of control in operations has afforded managers a better opportunity to coach and develop their people. This is complimented with increases to the salaries of front line advisors as the business continues its journey to make the Living Wage the Minimum Wage in RESPONSE, correctly recognising the skills and experience required to fulfil that role.
Operational floors have also been completely overhauled to create a better working environment and with the business also making significant investments in technology to give its people better tools to do their job.
The sales growth delivered, together with a continued improvement in operating cost efficiency, has enabled the business to deliver a year over year improvement in profitability, with EBITDA recovering from a loss of £0.5m in 2013 to a profit of £0.8m in 2014. This has been delivered at the same time as investing in the areas outlined above and represents a very creditable performance. Whilst recognising that in our Industry external factors can cause demand to fluctuate, the Management Team is confident that 2014/15 will
continue to see strong growth from the business.
The excellent results delivered are also reflected by the level of external industry recognition the business has received, with RESPONSE winning awards this year at both the National Outsourcing Association (NOA) and Customer Contact Association (CCA) Excellence Awards.
The recent announcement that the RESPONSE Executive Management team has completed its purchase of the business from The Murray Group represents the next exciting stage in the journey. Over the next 6 months RESPONSE will be re-branded, including a change of company name, with a unique Vision and Philosophy of the newly independent business set to be rolled out.
Brian Bannatyne, CEO of RESPONSE commented,
“2014 has been another year of significant change across the business. We have delivered strong sales and profit growth whilst at the same time investing significantly in the areas we believe are important. With the recent MBO we are now in a position to truly shape our business and roll out a Philosophy and Vison that we believe will set us apart in our Industry. Very exciting times lie ahead”.
