Newcastle based software developer Leighton celebrates 30th anniversary

Newcastle based software development business Leighton is celebrating 30 years in business this month, and praised its team following two years’ of rapid growth, and bouncing back from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company announced the strong set of results which has seen the business grow in revenue by 64 per cent last year alone, with turnover expected to grow another 65 per cent by the end of this financial year.

Leighton employs specialists in bespoke software development and IT strategy and works with “some of the UK’s biggest” blue-chip firms. The growth has led to a wide scale recruitment drive to grow the 60-strong team by another 40, following the business’ success.

It also boasts an international portfolio of customers including British Airways, Atom Bank, EQUANS and North plc.

The company was founded in Sunderland in 1992 by brothers Paul and Gerard Callaghan and has grown from a startup operation to the north’s “leading” Amazon Web Services (AWS) development agency.

Its “innovative culture” has seen Leighton launch several high growth software businesses that now operate on a global scale including SaleCycle, Communicator, Footy.com, Workcast, 4Projects and DomainNames.com.

Leighton noted that the launch of its latest human resources software Human by Leighton, will also continue to provide the company with a stronger foothold in more specialist markets around the world.

Paul Callaghan, commented: “We are absolutely delighted to say that this is our 30th year as a firm, we’ve gone from a small, entrepreneur start-up to one of the country’s tech leaders in co-creation of software.

“To be able to celebrate this key milestone is a fantastic achievement and the increasing growth in revenue demonstrates how dedicated and experienced our teams are even throughout the most unforeseen circumstances as the pandemic hit.

“They continue to work exceptionally hard to support our customers and it’s great that we have been able to celebrate our 30th anniversary, a fantastic achievement for the team.”

The team celebrated with a party at Wylam Brewery in the City’s Exhibition Park on Wednesday, July 20 with its team of investors and enjoyed live music by Ellen and the Funktones.