BSI delivers record revenue and profit

18 April 2017
  • Revenue climbs by 21% to over £400 million
  • Seventeen consecutive years of revenue growth
  • Record underlying operating profit of over £50 million, increase of 42%

BSI, the business standards company, has announced its results for the year ended 31 December 2016.  Record global revenue of £401.8 million, a rise of 21%, was achieved despite increasing levels of economic, political and social uncertainty in global markets. Underlying operating profit rose by 42%, with strong performance across the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific enhanced by positive currency effects.

Key points:

  • Revenue increased 21% to £401.8m (2015: £331.1m)
    • Organic revenue at constant exchange rate grew by 9%
    • Five acquisitions during the year added 3% inorganic growth
    • Positive currency effects added another 9% revenue growth
    • Record underlying1 operating profit up 42% to £50.1m (2015: £35.4m)
      • Profit growth split 31% organic, 1% inorganic and 10% currency effects
      • New sales orders grew by 17%

Howard Kerr, Chief Executive, commented: “BSI is a truly integrated global enterprise, and our record results show that our principle of Organizational Resilience, which underpins our strategy, has never been more relevant to modern businesses. 2016 was a year of increasing economic, political and social uncertainty, creating both challenges and opportunities for our clients worldwide. Success requires adaptation, and we are working with industry to help unlock the benefits of international trade and a wide range of new technologies, including smart cities and artificial intelligence.”

BSI attracted a record numbers of clients, taking its total client base to 81,000 across 181 countries worldwide, including 64% of the FTSE 100, 53% of the Fortune 500 and 58% of the Nikkei Index. BSI’s global workforce grew 9% to 3,835, and the company added seven new offices, including its first sites in Ireland and New Zealand.

Expansion of BSI’s range of products and services, aligned to its Organizational Resilience approach, helped increase average revenue per account by 14%. BSI’s complementary products and services span three areas; Knowledge, Assurance and Compliance. Knowledge, made up of standards development and publishing, grew 6%, to revenues of £59.4m. Assurance, covering systems and product certification and training, grew 19% to £292.2m. Compliance, which includes a growing supply chain services, saw 76% growth to revenues of £49.8m.

BSI made strong progress toward its targeted financial objective of £500m of revenues by 2018 with 9% organic growth complemented by five acquisitions during the year and positive currency effects. In 2016, BSI acquired two information security organizations in Europe, Espion in Ireland and Info-Assure in the UK, which have now formed BSI’s Cybersecurity and Information Resilience stream. In addition, BSI acquired three environmental, health and safety (EHS) businesses on the US east coast; Atrium, Creative Environmental Solutions and Quantum Management Group, adding to its 2015 west coast EHS acquisitions to create more of a nationwide offering.

In terms of standards policy, 2016 was dominated by the outcome of the EU referendum in June. As the UK National Standards Body, BSI remained neutral in the prior debate. Since then, we have been deeply engaged in preparations with industry, UK Government, consumer groups and all other stakeholders to shape a clear strategy for UK experts to continue to influence the development of the European and international standards on which UK industry and consumers rely.

Kerr concluded: “The market volatility we have seen worldwide in 2016 is likely to continue into 2017 and beyond. However, I’m confident that our acquisitions and investments will continue to provide the resilience within our own business to maintain the added value for our clients which in turn will enable them to be more resilient.”

The full online edition of our annual report and financial statements 2016 can be found online [http://www.bsigroup.com/en-IN/about-bsi/financial-information/]