Bytes confident in market drivers in half-year trading update

Reseller saw double-digit operating profit growth in FY25

Crayon's Bytes Technology Group "confident" in growth strategy following double-digit rise in a trading update for its financial half year ended 31 August 2024.

The group claims it traded strongly in the first half with the trends it reported in its annual general meeting in July continuing for the remainder of the period.

In the July AGM statement CEO Sam Mudd said the business was driven by "strong and stable demand from both corporate and public sectors."

In this latest trading update, Bytes' gross invoiced income and adjusted operating profit both saw 13.5 per cent growth, while gross profit was up nine per cent.

Net cash position at the end of H1 FY25 was £71.5m, after paying £35.3m of final and special dividends in the period.

Bytes said cash conversion in the first half reflects its normal weighting to the second half, with strong cash conversion expected for the full year.

"We delivered a strong performance in the period, and I am grateful to our teams for their efforts," said Mudd.

"We remain confident in our growth strategy and believe we are well positioned to benefit from the structural demand drivers we see in our markets including cloud computing, cyber security and AI."

Mudd told CRN in May the rest of the calendar year will focus on continuing initiatives around Azure, Copilot, security and steadying the business after robust financial results for the year ending 29 February 2024.

Bytes unphased by major leadership shake ups

The number four ranked Top VAR can breathe a sigh of relief with this positive FY 25 update after experiencing a series of significant leadership changes in the first half of 2024.

Starting at the top in February , former CEO Neil Murphy resigned from the LSE-listed software and cloud services giant after making a number of undisclosed trades.

This led to current boss Sam Mudd officially taking over as chief exec in May after several months serving as interim CEO.

Murphy was later cleared by the Financial Conduct Authority after its investigation into his undisclosed trades found no evidence of misconduct.

Meanwhile, April saw the return of Hayley Mooney as Bytes new chief commercial officer 12 years after leaving the VAR in 2012.

And most recently the reseller gained channel vet Jon Francis as its new vendor solutions director.