The West London company has reported a 33% increase in revenues from £3.2m in Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2014 to £4.25m in Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2015. Turnover last year – January to December – was £15.2m. The Brentford-based company is projecting £17m sales by year end.
Octink client services director, Simon Martin said: “Usually the year takes a little while to get going. This year however, the phone started ringing on our first day back after the Christmas break and it hasn’t stopped since.”
The company has seen success producing signage for a number of high-profile property developments. Current projects include a long-term signage and graphics project on the Greenwich Peninsula, marketing suite and signage projects in Nine Elms, and an ongoing project at Chobham Manor in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The company is also involved in work for major regeneration projects in Earls Court and Elephant and Castle.
Octink also served a creative partner for the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) delegation to property expo MIPIM in Cannes in March. The delegation was based in the London Pavilion at the show, which showcased most of the large developments taking place across the capital, including Octink client projects such as those at Battersea Power Station and the Olympic Park.
Martin said interest in the London property market was surging.
“There was a really good feeling that London property is in a very, very good state,” he said. “You can tell that in London, of course, just by driving through and seeing all the cranes, but you could really feel it in the buzz at MIPIM. It’s a really exciting industry to be involved in at the moment.”
Octink managing director Mike Freely said that relationship building was as important as the resurgence in the property market: “We provide branding, signage and property marketing suites to some of the country’s largest residential property developers, so naturally the buoyant market is creating a lot of demand for our services."
The company’s core business is in the capital but it has national contracts with house builders such as Barratt, Redrow and Berkley and civil contractors, among others. Last year it invested in a suite of Durst P10s, streamlined its factory and improved its pre-press workflow with Esko Automation Engine. Sales director Terry Haxell said the software is particularly useful for giving a higher degree of automation in filling repeat orders and ordering stock.
Haxell added the investment was prompted by market research that showed a clear opportunity in the property market.
The company has also been working with government-backed scheme Growth Accelerator, which has helped it identify areas of growth.
“We forecasted the growth last year, we saw this coming and our operations director saw we needed to increase our production capacity so we could cope,” Haxell said.
