Business Week – Spirent on the prowl.

Business Week - Spirent on the prowl.

Network technology specialist is hunting for new business

Telecommunications equipment specialist Spirent is confident its results next week will reflect tight financial controls and a new proactive business strategy.

Finance director Eric Hutchinson said the company has always had tight financial controls, but ‘recently, we have been taking a much more proactive role by constantly looking for business opportunities instead of concentrating energies on fundraising’. These could include mergers, partnerships or acquisitions like its #1.1m purchase of Hekimian last November.

Hutchinson added: ‘Very high growth activities require large investment and working capital, a classic scenario that technology companies have found themselves in recently’, he explained.

But Spirent has been able to balance spending and earnings. ‘We generate cash yet we still invest over 12% of our revenues in development,’ he said.

Prior to being appointed FD at the beginning of last year, Hutchinson held several finance positions in the company.

He said: ‘The finance role within the company is of importance. It’s there to enable the commercial managers to take advantage of the opportunities and develop the business.

‘My role is not only looking after the money, but also helping to make decisions (about company strategy),’ he remarked. His role also includes managing tax affairs and credit management.

Employed by the company since 1983, Hutchinson has been able to get to know different people in key areas of the international business. Working for Spirent for such a long time, however, has ‘not been a narrow experience’, explaining that, although the company has been in existence for a long time, ‘we’re constantly reinventing ourselves’.

‘We developed our telecommunications technology from nothing in 1995 to the position that now we entered the FTSE-100 index,’ he added.

According to Hutchinson: ‘Accounting training is a very good basis for anybody to develop into the business world.’

Spirent manufactures network testing equipment and supplies it to operators, such as Cisco Systems. It also develops routers and switches for traffic on the internet.

‘Carriers are now trying to differentiate themselves by showing they can provide reliable networks. With our systems, they can give assurance that their services can be delivered,’ said Hutchinson. ‘Trillions of US dollars are being invested in this sector at the moment,’ he added.

The company employs 6,500 people in 42 different countries.

The company’s website is at www.spirent.co.uk

SNAPSHOT

Interims to 30 June, 2000

Revenue: #316m

Profit after taxation: #15.4m

Current market capitalisation: # 1.1bn

Executive directors:

Nicholas Brookes, chief executive, appointed July 1995.

Eric Hutchinson, finance director, appointed January 2000

Auditor: Ernst & Young

Company profile: Listed on the FTSE-100 and the techMARK 100 indices, Spirent is a network technology company specialising in testing systems for the telecommunications industry. The company, founded in 1949, changed its name from Bowthorpe in May 2000.

Share

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Resources & Whitepapers

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata
Professional Services

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata

3y

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folde...

In the past decade, the professional services industry has transformed significantly. Digital disruptions, increased competition, and changing market ...

View resource
2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

3y

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professi...

In recent months, professional services firms are facing more pressure than ever to deliver value to clients. Often, clients look at the firms own inf...

View resource
Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine
Accounting Firms

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

3y

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

In a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...

View resource
Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021
Making Tax Digital

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

3y

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

The first phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) saw the requirement for the digital submission of the VAT Return using compliant software. That’s now behi...

View resource