Profits soar to €15m for Agile Networks group
The group behind Irish specialised network systems provider Agile Networks saw its operating profit jump more than 19pc to €15m in its 2023 financial year as it benefited from a surge in revenue.
Newly-filed accounts for the group show that its turnover rose 10pc to €68.6m in the year to the end of September last year.
Headed by chief executive Kenn Larkin, Agile Networks bills itself as a highly specialised unified network solutions provider.
The group is the largest independent Cisco gold certified partner supplying the Irish market.
Its solutions offer a so-called unified systems framework for the delivery of voice, data and video.
“The wider group is continuing its focus on the further development of its network and customer base and also on the control of costs,” the directors note in the accounts. The company’s clients have included Maynooth University, Enet, The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Marine Institute.
In 2017, Irish firm PlanNet21 Communications acquired Agile Networks in a deal that at that stage created a group with combined revenues of €50m. It aimed to grow that figure to €100m by 2020. PlanNet21 is majority-owned by Peter Carroll and Michael Hannon. Mr Carroll was one of the original founders of PlanNet21 when it was established in 1998. Another co-founder is Deirdre Tormey, who was at one stage an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist. The group, which employs just over 100 people, has offices in Dublin and across Ireland, as well as in Paris, Edinburgh and Mountain View in California.
Following its acquisition of Agile Networks in 2017, PlanNet21 bought the assets of Scotland’s Hutchinson Networks in 2019. In 2020, it bought Dublin-based IT solutions firm Ecom.
At the time of the Ecom purchase, PlanNet21 said it was eyeing additional acquisitions. Mr Carroll said that future revenue expansion would be driven from bolt-on purchases rather than organic growth. The latest set of accounts for the company behind PlanNet21, Agile Networks and other subsidiaries show that its shareholder funds hit €68.1m at the end of September 2023. It paid dividends of €208,000 last year, compared with €92,000 the previous year. In 2022, the group paid €21m to buy an investment property.