YORK IT business Trustmarque has launched a recruitment drive after increasing gross profits by 28 per cent in the first nine months of the year.

The business, which has already grown from 95 employees to 140 since 2009, is now looking to recruit 20 more staff in sales, IT, finance and operations by the start of its next financial year in September.

Scott Haddow, chief executive of Trustmarque, based at Alpha Court at Monks Cross, said the business was on track to achieve about £14 million gross profit in the full year, which means £5 million of net profit, up from £3.5 million last year.

He said: “It’s good news in a stormy climate and we’re going against the grain, delivering solid results and launching a significant recruitment drive in the York area.”

He said the business’ approach of developing a solution-based service to clients, reducing their IT costs, had enabled them to increase their number of clients in both the public and private sector.

The company’s turnover grew from £108 million to £120 million during the financial year. The business had recorded turnover of £130 million the year before, but Mr Haddow said the change demonstrates its change of focus from big ticket items with low margins to concentrating on its relationship-based service.

The business acquired cloud infrastructure and hosted services provider Nimbus Technology Systems in May, which enables it to offer web-based applications negating the need for businesses to spend money on servers and hardware.

Mr Haddow said it is continuing to look at prospects for further acquisitions, which will enable it to expand its offering.

He said: “We have already started the search for our next acquisition target and we are now in a position where we have a shortlist of potential targets. I cannot name names at the moment, but we are looking to add a business that already has existing complementary services and solutions capability that can operate alongside our existing business.

“These results are a culmination of the end of all the changes that Trustmarque has made over the last two years. We have everything in place now to aggressively drive the business forward and this is reflected in our year to date results,” he said.