Viglen’s continued success is an education for all

While most local system companies have evaporated, Viglen continues to bang in the results – including a whopping £8m revenue for June alone. How does one of the last remaining giants of the UK PC industry do it?  KitGuru goes back to school to see what can be learnt from Viglen.

Launched 6 years before IBM unleashed the PC on an unsuspecting world, Viglen has been servicing customers in the business, education, health, local government and voluntary sector for a very long time.

Key to its success, has been Viglen's ability to get included in the all important ‘Official supplier' lists for government departments and educational establishments. This kind of ‘catalogue' might only have 4 official suppliers for technology equipment, which helps ensure that revenues remain strong in tough times.

In 2010, following a failed attempt to mate with Stone Computers, Viglen posted just under £70m in revenue – of which net profit was just over £500,000.

Roll the clock forward one year and revenues plummeted to just over £60m but, through strong management, excellent financial control and the efforts of a dedicated workforce, Managing Director Bordan Tkachuk managed to boost his net profit to more than £1.5m.

Impressive stuff.

Viglen is unlikely to post £8m a month for the whole year, but it is likely to surpass last year's revenues and nail a solid profit. Surely an education for any of its competitors that complain about having a hard time.

When he's not busy shaping the future of the UK computer market, Bordan has also been one of Alan Sugar's aggressors on The Apprentice.

KitGuru says: Increasing profitability in a global downturn? Impressive stuff. The guys running the place should buy themselves McLaren street cars to celebrate.

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