At Aspire Technology Solutions, we are proud to celebrate another year of remarkable growth and strategic expansion, with a 23.6% increase in revenue. This brings our revenue close to £40 million for the year ending on 29 February 2024.
We also experienced a 5% increase in employee headcount, expanding from 238 to 250. This growth was primarily driven by organic expansion, contributing to 22.2% of the revenue increase, as we successfully onboarded new customers and enhanced the value delivered to our existing clients.
Our growth has been bolstered by a significant minority investment from LDC, a leading private equity firm, in March 2022, valuing Aspire at £85 million. This investment has played a pivotal role in supporting our strategic initiatives, including our acquisition of Cloud Cover IT in December 2023. The acquisition contributed to our revenue for the year, and we expect an even greater impact in the coming full year. This move reinforces our commitment to expanding in the Scottish market, with additional resources and support driving our growth in the region.
In FY24, we made substantial investments in technology, dedicating £1.7m to advancing our private cloud technology stack and expanding our connectivity network. Additionally, we significantly scaled our next-generation SOC (Security Operations Centre), resulting in a 97% year-on-year increase in security-related revenues, building on the 98% growth we achieved the previous year.
Our adjusted EBITDA for FY24 reached £5.6m. This success was driven by a strategic shift in product focus and the implementation of several system and automation projects. We also adopted a new PSA (Professional Services Automation) platform, which has improved our customer response quality by automating numerous service and build activities.
As Chris Fraser, our CEO, noted, “We are proud of our robust performance in FY24, which reflects our ongoing focus on innovation, customer-centricity, and strategic growth. Our acquisition of Cloud Cover IT marks a significant milestone in expanding our service offerings in Scotland. Our continuous investment in technology and cyber security ensures we remain well-positioned to meet the evolving needs of our customers. At the close of FY24, our headcount was 250, and just a few months later, we have now surpassed 280, further enhancing our ability to deliver exceptional value and support to our customers.”
We also expanded our customer base from 1,700 to 1,900 clients, continuing to serve a diverse range of sectors. Our recurring revenue growth remained strong at 24.5%, with recurring revenues now making up 85.6% of our total revenue.
Our Net Promoter Score (NPS) for FY24 was 81, far exceeding the 70 threshold that signifies a ‘world-class’ level of customer satisfaction. While our gross profit margins slightly decreased from 30.1% to 29.6%, this was due to our continued investments in improving our operations.
Chris added “As we look ahead to FY25, we are confident that our strategic initiatives, combined with our unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional value to our customers, will drive further growth and success. Our focus on cyber security and modern workplace solutions remains a top priority, as businesses increasingly depend on secure and accessible data in an ever-evolving threat landscape.”
