A CONTACT centre operator has said it is confident its Derby site, which opened at the start of the year, will propel the company to even greater heights, after it reported a huge increase in annual profits.
HEROtsc, which officially launched its Pride Park contact centre in February, has reported a 117% rise in profits, rising from £4.1 million, to £8.9 million – an increase of £4.8 million.
The Falkirk-based company also increased sales by 30%, from £63 million to £82 million.
HEROtsc employs more than 6,000 staff across nine contact centres. At Derby, it has 1,200 staff, which already makes it the largest of all the HEROtsc's sites in terms of worker numbers.
The figure includes 175 extra staff who were recently recruited after the company won more work from multi-media giant Sky.
The latest HEROtsc financial results cover the year to March. As the Derby contact centre only started operating in February, HEROtsc said that its performance would not have showed up in its latest results.
But the company, which set up its Derby contact centre in the former home of internet bank Egg, said it was hopeful the site would help HEROtsc deliver an even better performance in its next set of financial results.
Chief executive David Turner said: "We have performed strongly in difficult times, demonstrating year-on-year growth.
"Over the past 12 months we've made significant improvements to the business, both in terms of how we're structured and the quality of product we're delivering.
"The full benefits of the two sites we opened earlier this year, in Derby and Glasgow, are still to be reflected in the company's performance.
"With £11.2 million in capital investment having been spent or planned across 2012 and 2013, the platform for further growth is strong."
The Derby Telegraph first revealed the arrival of HEROtsc a year ago.
It came at a good time for Derby, which had been left reeling from the departure of Barclaycard, which had taken over the Egg business. It decided not to retain Egg's Derby call centre, resulting in the loss of 650 jobs.
The city had also been rocked by job losses at train-maker Bombardier, Celanese Acetate and Royal Mail.
HEROtsc launched a recruitment drive. When it opened for business in February, it had 400 people working at the Derby centre, which handles customer service and sales calls on behalf of Sky.
Since then, its staff numbers have tripled.
Mr Turner said: "It is particularly pleasing to see the strong results reflected in job creation.
"We have seen a phenomenal increase in the number of team members we employ.
"Just four years ago we totalled 1,800 staff. Today, this is now 6,000."
Mr Turner has previously said that the Pride Park site has the capacity to accommodate up to 2,000 people.
It is hoped that as the centre wins more work, HEROtsc will continue to recruit hundreds more people in 2013.
Mr Turner said: "Importantly, the quality and professionalism of the staff we have is of the highest standards and the centres are performing outstandingly.
"We look forward to that level of service and delivery continuing as we go forward."
