Beverley IT business’ growth plan backed by Humber LEP grant

A Beverley IT company is creating four new jobs after having its growth plan supported by the Humber LEP’s Growing the Humber Programme.

Contrac, an IT services company, required an investment of £187,312 to make a step change in its provision by offering customers high quality and secure external hosting services.

With a capital grant of £37,462 to support its expansion plan, the company was able to invest in a new server room with additional security and disaster recovery systems to support its expansion plan.

Paul Simmonds, Contrac chief executive officer, said: “We would not have invested in the Server Room and our offering to clients would have been one of consultancy and service desk support only. In the sense that we can offer a full range of services, the LEP funding has been immensely important to Contrac.

“For the first time, Contrac has a physical infrastructure tailored to supporting clients’ needs into the future. The project’s completion will provide the company with the opportunity to attract a diverse range of customers requiring different services and skill sets.”

The business has already created two of the four new jobs.

Paul added: “Because of the development of our professional IT Services infrastructure, prospective employees have been immediately attracted to joining the business.”

Contrac secured its grant from the current £4m Growing the Humber programme which is funded via the Government’s Local Growth Fund and administrated by North East Lincolnshire Council.

The programme builds on a £30m Regional Growth Fund scheme. So far Growing the Humber has supported more than 200 businesses with grants that help them to invest in equipment and other capital purchases and create jobs.

The current programme which runs until 2017 and is anticipated to create 275 jobs and leverage an additional £20m in private sector funding is currently oversubscribed so will not be taking any further expressions of interest to full application.