Callcredit aims to deliver ‘hyper growth’

The group, which is one of Yorkshire’s biggest growth stories of recent years, saw its revenues increase to £150m for the year ended December 31 2014, up from £126m.

Profit before tax was £29.3m, up from £26.9m in 2013, representing a nine per cent increase. The business generated healthy cash flows, converting profits into operating cash of £16.6m.

The growth showed a significant improvement over the previous 12 months, when revenues grew by 15 per cent.

Now Callcredit has its sights set on doubling in size. A key focus is on expanding its international operations, which its chief executive, Mike Gordon, believes will deliver “hyper growth”.

Callcredit Information Group is the UK’s second-largest credit reference agency, and employs about 1,200 people including at its operations in Japan, China, Dubai and Lithuania.

The group’s financial results for the year, released today, show continued strong growth even against a backdrop of what it describes as challenging conditions in the financial services market.

Key factors identified by the group for the positive results included winning new customers and a focus on service and product innovation.

Mr Gordon said: “It is a pleasure to be in the position to steward this business and to play a part in the next chapter of its growth strategy.

“We have an extremely energetic and dynamic culture driven by ‘can do’ innovative, smart and passionate people who have a real passion for the business.

“We have great solutions that are valued by our customers across all of our lines of business, which together have contributed to Callcredit becoming the trusted business it is today.”

International markets offered the prospect of major growth in the future, he added.

“Our aim is to double the size of our business in terms of revenue but we recognise that we can’t achieve this just through organic growth.

“Whilst our UK businesses’ growth prospects remain strong, we need to expand our business footprint.

International markets offer the way to drive ‘hyper growth’ in our consumer, software, analytics, fraud and international propositions.

“To facilitate this we are currently looking to identify the right opportunities to support our international growth plans.”

Under Mr Gordon’s leadership, Callcredit has repositioned itself and expanded its capabilities to capitalise on opportunities.

The group says that alongside continuing investments in data assets, products and customer service, its strategy is to upgrade its operational infrastructure to improve operating profit margins.

Callcredit has grown rapidly through UK lenders’ increased use of credit data and software and analytics tools, as well as emerging demand for credit data solutions and analytics in areas such as insurance and alternative lending.

The company brings together experts in credit referencing, marketing services, interactive solutions and consultative analytics.