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brightsolid moves into profit on back of expansion

Growth strategy pays off for online publishing and technology group.


brightsolid, the online publishing and technology group, has moved into profit as the result of a growth strategy that has witnessed a doubling of turnover. The group, now wholly owned by publishers D.C. Thomson & Co., won significant contracts across both its publishing and technology businesses during the year to March 31st 2009, and reports continued growth during the current financial year.


brightsolid has confirmed consolidated results that reflect for the first time the full benefits of its acquisition of the London-based online genealogy business findmypast.com in January 2008. They show that the group achieved a gross profit of £8.5m on a combined turnover of £13.2m, with a pre-tax profit of just over £2 million.This compares favourably to the joint performance of the constituent companies during the previous year, when they recorded a combined pre-tax loss of £2.2m on sales of £6.8m.


“The significant growth achieved during last year come as a direct result of earlier strategic decisions made about the future direction of the company,” commented chief executive Chris van der Kuyl. “The acquisition of findmypast.com and the re-focusing of the business along two distinct lines of activity – online publishing and online technology – have paid off, and will continue to do so. We are witnessing continued growth during the new financial year.”


The Online Technologies division of brightsolid, which operates a state-of-the-art data centre in Scotland, has won significant business from new and existing clients, including Clyde Union and Senergy. The division is very active in the high-growth area of “cloud computing” and the shared “virtualisation” of IT services, and has a strategic partnership with leading business continuity provider SunGard Availability Services for workplace recovery services. brightsolid is also part of the consortium which will manage the online hosting elements of the 2011 Census in Scotland.


The Online Publishing division, in addition to owning findmypast.com operates the popular genealogy site ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk a partnership between the General Register Office for Scotland, the National Archives of Scotland and the Court of the Lord Lyon, has continued to win business, including the digitisation and management of census records from the 1911 England & Wales Census.


“At a time of economic uncertainty, brightsolid is working within two sectors which are experiencing growth – major growth in the cases of cloud computing and family history websites,” commented Chris van der Kuyl. “During the current year we expect growth to continue, and this will enable the company to reduce debt and fund new investment needed in the two operating divisions. We expect that investment will have an impact on profits, but it will lead to a stronger and more profitable business in the longer term.”


In August 2009 brightsolid agreed to acquire the online business Friends Reunited Group from ITV plc. The deal was subject to clearance by the Office of Fair Trading, which decided in November to refer the acquisition to the Competition Commission. A decision is expected during the first quarter of 2010. “Friends Reunited Group exists in a highly competitive environment where there are several players. We are confident that the Competition Commission will confirm this during its investigations, and that we shall be able to complete the Friends Reunited Group deal,” added Chris van der Kuyl.

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