Despite suffering the loss of managing director Chris Robey during 2022, the Caistor, Lincolnshire-based business exceeded its targets and turned over more than £4m for the first time in its history.

Ben Crossfield, Jacqui Vear, and James Walker were appointed directors of the business in late November. They were all existing members of the management team, with respective lengths of service of 8.5 years, 10 years, and 7.5 years.

The trio will work alongside finance director and managing director Sharon Robey, Chris Robey’s widow, to help take the business, which was established in 1975, to the next stage of growth.

“It has been our ambition to reach the four-million-pound mark for many years and I’m pleased to say we have finally achieved it,” she said.

“As a second-generation business, family values are embedded in everything we do. Our team embodies these values and when Chris and I took over the company from his parents, we wanted to put the staff at its heart.

“Promoting the management team to directors is the first step towards giving our employees a greater and more meaningful stake in the running and success of the business.”

Vear, who has become operations director, commented: “This year has been hard for the whole team, but especially Sharon, and I’m proud of the way we’ve supported each other and not only managed to survive but thrive.

“Our clients, partners and suppliers have been hugely supportive and of course we couldn’t have reached this fantastic milestone without them. With Chris very much in mind we’re looking forward to the future of Systematic full of optimism in the knowledge that together we can achieve great things.”

Systematic’s positive trading results will also enable it to continue supporting local charities and good causes. Every Christmas the business donates hundreds of pounds to charities chosen by the staff.

Crossfield, who is now commercial director, said: “We’ve lost count of how much we’d donated over the years, but we know that we’ve passed the £50,000 milestone!

“We make donations wherever we can – in fact, earlier in 2022 we made an impromptu pledge of £5,000 to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) for the benefit of people who continue to face the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

“Our record turnover this year will mean we can continue founder Nick Robey’s Christmas tradition and build on Chris’ legacy of making a positive difference, for our clients, suppliers, team, and community.”

Other key achievements at the 18-staff company during the last financial year included a rebrand in November 2021 to reflect the company’s increasingly diverse customer offering.

Walker, who has become IT director, said: “Systematic was originally a printing company but we’ve since expanded to incorporate mailing and marketing services and we have our own dedicated design and animation studio. We’ve also launched a new range of sustainable corporate gifts.

“In fact, sustainability is another cornerstone of the business and we’re aiming to be carbon neutral by 2025. For the first time we now have an all-electric fleet and we’ve installed solar panels at our headquarters in Caistor which means we’re well on the way to achieving that.

“So, although we have experienced great sadness this past six months there are also a lot of reasons to celebrate, and we know Chris would have been the first to pop the Champagne!”