Callcredit on acquisition trail and looking to add more staff

The private equity-backed firm said it had achieved growth in turnover by increasing its market share.

Over the past decade, the Leeds-based group, which was founded by Skipton Building Society, has expanded rapidly to compete with rivals Experian and Equifax.

Callcredit has money to invest after London-based private equity firm Vitruvian Partners bought Skipton Building Society’s majority stake, with the support of the management team, in December 2009.

In its first full year in partnership with Vitruvian, Callcredit’s profits from operations rose by 48 per cent to £11.1m, while revenues increased by 14 per cent to £61m.

Callcredit, which has made three acquisitions since the management buyout, increased its staff numbers from 676 to 800 during 2010.

In an exclusive interview with the Yorkshire Post, John McAndrew, the company’s chief executive, said: “Vitruvian have still got a significant part of their fund which they want to invest.

“We’ve performed very strongly for them.

“They are saying, ‘If you want to carry on making some acquisitions over 2011 and 2012 we will strongly support you on this’.

“We’re not looking to buy competitors and then spend two, three, four, five or six years squeezing out synergies – we believe that will take our eye off the ball.

“There are some services on the credit side and the marketing side that we want to offer.

“We will be looking for small and medium-sized businesses with strong intellectual property and strong management who offer services that are fundamentally different from normal.

“If we bring them into the group, help them with our brand, help them with our technology and help them to thrive, that’s the best thing we can do for our shareholders and our customers.”

He said one of the acquisitions might be in Yorkshire, and added: “We’ll be looking right the way through the UK.

“There is a real commitment from the executive to our head office in Leeds.”

Mr McAndrew said Callcredit had still got “a long way to go” in terms of its potential for expansion.

He added: “We’ve still only got about 10 per cent market share in the UK. Within the next four or five years, 20 per cent is extremely achievable.

“We’ve grown organically and through acquisition.”

Recent acquisitions have included the Trading Floor, which is based in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, and specialises in data provision.

Mr McAndrew said the Trading Floor’s business and its staff had moved to Leeds.

He added: “In Leeds we’ve probably got 450 people, and in 2009 it was close to 330 and 340.

“We’ve just taken space in this building (One Park Lane in Leeds) to ensure that we can expand here rather than other places.”

He said he was keen to find staff with a strong background in business analysis and data- bases.

The company’s credit solutions division includes Callcredit, which provides credit referencing services for business and consu- mers.

The marketing solutions division supplies a range of services including marketing data, international market analysis and network planning.

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