Frequency invests in people to drive up turnover 20 per cent

Accessories distributor currently recruiting for 20 new positions as it targets turnover boost

Frequency Telecom says it is to begin a major recruitment drive as part of plans to increase annual turnover by 20 per cent to £24 million before the end of its financial year.

The accessories distributor, which employs 55 staff across offices in Chessington in the UK, as well as Bonn in Germany and St Petersburg in Russia, is currently looking to fill 20 new positions across sales purchasing and marketing.

The latest recruitment drive follows a revamp of its senior management team, which saw co-founder and managing director Gareth Limpenny (pictured) become chief executive, and sales and purchasing director John Willoughby  filling the managing director’s role. In addition, Matt Gould joined as sales director, Andy Ellis as head of purchasing, Rebecca Mason is product manager and Dave Sweeney and Sam Moore are national account managers.

Willoughby is confident the addition of new staff, as well the formation of new brand relationships and new direct accounts with retailers and operators, will see it achieve its turnover target of between £22 and £24 million for the 12 months ending March 31, 2015.

The company has yet to officially post its financial results for the year ending March 31, 2014, but is expecting turnover of £20 million with sales of about 1.8 million products. In the UK, it currently has direct retail accounts with EE, Carphone Warehouse, Amazon, DSGi, Harrods, Selfridges, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Mobile Fun.

“We are investing in people, so we expect some return on that in 2015. It may take six months or a year for that person to really get going but we are willing to wait that long. We have a very wide selection of direct retail accounts and where we have one product or brand in there, we want to get the next one in there and work closer with them.

“Last year we sold about 1.8 million products and turnover was around £20 million. This year we’re looking at turnover of between £22 million to £24 million, with the number of units sold between 2.3 million and 2.5 million.

“We have had a good start to the year due to our recent recruitment drive, and they have hit the ground running very quickly – and some of the new brands such as Griffin and MiPow have been accepted without taking the focus away from Case Mate. We want a company with 20 brands. Those solid 10-12 will deliver and if we can add a few more, it will help.”