iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Annual Report and Accounts 2015 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
OVERVIEW
1 About Us
10 Highlights 
STRATEGIC REPORT
13 Chairman’s statement
14 Chief executive officer’s report
16 Finance director's report
19 Key performance indicators and principal risks and uncertainties
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
22 Board of directors
24 Corporate governance report
29 Report of the board to the members on directors’ remuneration
32 Directors' report
34 Directors' responsibilities statement
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
36 Independent auditor's report to the members of iomart Group plc
37 Consolidated statement of comprehensive income
38 Consolidated statement of financial position
39 Consolidated statement of cash flows
40 Consolidated statement of changes in equity
42 Notes to the financial statements
71 Parent company financial statements
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
80 Notice of annual general meeting
OFFICERS AND PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS
85 Officers and professional advisers iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
About Us
“We open up a whole world of cloud computing options, offering a 
range of cloud services, across a global network, owned, managed and 
supported by us 24×7.”
We are an award winning managed cloud company that enables 
businesses and organisations to operate their online data and 
IT environments safely and securely. Headquartered in Glasgow, 
Scotland, we partner with leading vendors such as VMware, Amazon 
Web Services, EMC, Microsoft, Asigra, Arbor and Dell to offer our 
customers a centrally managed, controlled and completely agnostic 
set of hybrid, private and public cloud platforms. By owning a 
global network and datacentre infrastructure, we can support any 
customer who wishes to move seamlessly between any and all of 
these platforms with a consultative level of knowledge and expertise, 
delivering cloud services to meet exact business needs. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Our Locations
We will not jeopardise our clients' mission critical systems by relying on middlemen to deliver core 
components of our service for us. When we say “our data centres” – we mean it.
iomart has invested millions of pounds in building, equipping and operating 10 UK data centres, six 
US data centres and two further international points of presence.
Each data centre is built using Tier 1 infrastructure, is N+ in design and is safe, secure and staffed 
24 x 7. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Our Track 
Record
iomart Group plc has been on an upward curve. 
Our latest annual results show an 18% rise in 
revenue to £65.8m (2014: £55.6m), which marks 
an almost doubling of revenue for us over the 
past three years (2012: £33.5m) through business 
from existing customers, new business wins 
and aquisitions. This strategy in turn has been 
driven by investment in the physical infrastructure 
and technical skills and expertise to deliver the 
managed cloud and hosting services needed by 
modern business. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Our Market
“iomart is investing in the relationships and skills to help customers 
make an informed choice across the cloud spectrum and to help 
them manage these environments moving forward.”
We currently provide a wide range of managed hosting services to 
both SMEs and corporate customers, all of whom are at various 
stages of development.  All our solutions are delivered from our 
network of datacentres and fully supported by us around the clock. 
The market continues to grow and evolve. Potential cloud customers 
are confronted by an ever more complex set of decisions in terms 
of cost, value, effectiveness, complexity, security and compliance. In 
response, an ecosystem of managed services providers and large 
infrastructure providers is growing to serve these customers. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
We are well positioned to strengthen our position 
around that very complexity as customers look 
to find the best way forward for their own 
needs, whether that be private infrastructure 
in a datacentre of their choice,  public cloud 
infrastructure or more likely a mixture of the two 
combined with legacy on-premise infrastructure. 
The effective management of all these is the 
opportunity for iomart which we would collectively 
term the Hybrid Cloud.
Our clients span every sector and include: Misys, 
Barton Wilmore, English National Ballet, Liverpool 
FC, Stagecoach, British Red Cross, Network Rail, 
Pernod Ricard & Essex County Fire & Rescue 
Service. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Since 2012, we have developed 
a sustainable, yet innovative and 
relevant, corporate and social 
responsibility framework which has 
young people and our employees 
at its heart.
It is vital that employers like iomart 
help demystify the IT industry and 
engage and encourage the future 
talent pool. We do this in a number 
of ways.
• Supporting them in sport via Host 
Your Kit - an innovative campaign 
which has given over 300 sports 
kits to youth teams across Britain.
• Supporting them as they 
prepare for life beyond full-time 
education through mentoring, 
work placements and provision of 
business skills.
• Supporting them by organising 
educational events and initiatives 
aimed at engaging students with 
our industry. 
Our 
Corporate 
& Social 
Responsibility
Manchester 
City FC's Jenny 
Beattie launched 
an iomart Host 
Your Kit giveaway 
for the Women's 
World Cup. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
iomart hosted a Safer Internet Day 
conference for young people at Glasgow 
Caledonian University. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Our Employees
iomart is recognised and respected as one of the leading cloud computing companies and we have 
achieved this position through the professionalism, talent and sheer hard work of our incredible 
employees. At the heart of our success lies our simple desire to succeed.
We want our people to thrive, prosper and to leave work every day feeling valued and that they have 
made a difference. In return, iomart is committed to their professional and personal development and 
to ensuring that they have a fantastic place to work.
We firmly believe that by maintaining a truly diverse pool of talent, our business will benefit from the 
differing backgrounds, cultures, experiences and personalities of our team, as we strive to become a 
truly world class cloud computing company.
We also encourage our employees to help make a difference in their local communities – so much so 
that we call them our Local Heroes.
We support them in any number of ways – from the provision of services, donations or equipment and 
we’re delighted to do so. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
iomart in Numbers iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Financial statements for year ended 31March 2015
1  Throughout these financial statements adjusted EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before share based payment charges and acquisition costs. Throughout 
these financial statements acquisition costs are defined as acquisition related costs and non-recurring acquisition integration costs.
2  Throughout these financial statements adjusted profit before tax is profit before tax, amortisation charges on acquired intangible assets, shared based payment charges, mark to mark adjustments in 
respect of interest rate swaps, acquisition costs and in the previous year the accelerated write off of arrangement fees on the bank borrowing facilities which were repaid early during that year.
3  Throughout these financial statements adjusted diluted earnings per share is earnings per share before amortisation charges on acquired intangible assets, shared based payment charges, mark to 
mark adjustments in respect of interest rate swaps, acquisition costs and in the previous year the accelerated write off of arrangement fees on the bank borrowing facilities which were repaid early during 
that year, including the taxation effect of these.
10
Highlights
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
• Revenue growth of 18% to £65.8m (2014: £55.6m)
• Adjusted EBITDA
1
 growth of 23% to £29.1m (2014: £23.6m)
• Adjusted profit before tax growth
2
 of 14% to £16.6m (2014: £14.6m)
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share
3
 from operations increased by 16% to 12.63p (2014: 10.85p)
• Cashflow from operations increased by 13% to £27.2m (2014: £24.0m)
• Adjusted EBITDA
1
 margin increased to 44% (2014: 42%)
• Proposed final dividend increased by 43% to 2.50p per share (2014: 1.75p per share)
OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
• Building relationships for Hybrid Cloud opportunities with major players
• Continued M&A activity with the acquisition of ServerSpace
• Acquisition of SystemsUp to address the Public Cloud opportunity
STATUTORY EQUIVALENTS
The above highlights are based on adjusted results. A full reconciliation between adjusted and 
statutory results is contained within these financial statements. The statutory equivalents of the above 
results are as follows:
• Profit before tax growth of 11% to £10.8m (2014: £9.7m) 
• Basic earnings per share from operations increased by 14% to 8.34p (2014: 7.30p) iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Financial statements for year ended 31March 2015
Revenue Growth 
18%
to £65.8M
Adjusted PBT 
Growth 
14%
to £16.6M
Margin 
Increased to 
44%
EBITDA Growth 
23%
to £29.1M
11
Cashflow Increased
13%
to £27.2M
Proposed Final Dividend
Increased by
43%
to 2.50p iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
iomart was chosen to host the Medical Appraisal and Revalidation System (MARS) for 6,300 doctors 
working in Wales after proving it could meet the UK Information Commissioner’s requirements and 
could provide a responsive, scalable managed service backed by dedicated technical support.
“We realised we needed much stronger Service Level Agreements around the project because of its 
importance for the NHS in Wales.”
Paul Kirk, Business Systems Support Unit Manager 
for Wales Deanery iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Strategic Report
Chairman's Statement
13
Once again it is extremely pleasing to report on another very good year for your Group. We continue to make excellent 
progress as we execute on our combined strategy of growing our business both organically and by acquisition. Our reputation 
as one of the UK’s leading cloud computing companies continues to develop.
We have again enjoyed a substantial increase in profitability over the year, driven by both organic and acquisitive growth. This 
year we have only made the one acquisition during the year, ServerSpace, in December 2014, and we have also benefited from 
a full year contribution of both Redstation and Backup Technology which were acquired last year.
After the year end we completed the acquisition of Systems Up Limited, a consultancy company with a particular focus on 
Public Cloud. 
All of this progress is a result of a great deal of hard work by our executives and staff and I thank them all on behalf of the Board 
and the shareholders for their efforts over the year.
The Group has pursued a progressive dividend policy for a number of years now. As a consequence of our continued strong 
performance we intend to adopt a dividend policy aimed at improving shareholder returns whilst maintaining a strong capital 
position for future acquisitions. Accordingly, our intention will be, over time, to increase the dividend pay-out to 25% of adjusted 
diluted earnings per share. This year the Board is proposing to pay a final dividend of 2.5p per share on 1 September 2015 to 
shareholders on the register on 14 August 2015, representing an increase of 43% over the dividend last year and equivalent 
to a pay-out ratio of 19.8% of adjusted diluted earnings per share. We continue to offer shareholders the option to participate 
in a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP) as an alternative to receiving cash. Details of the DRIP scheme will be distributed with 
the annual accounts in due course. 
We have started the 2015 financial year in a strong position and I look forward to another exciting year of growth with 
considerable confidence.
Ian Ritchie
Chairman
8 June 2015
 
Strategic Report iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Introduction
I am pleased once more to report on another excellent year for iomart. We have increased our revenues and profits both organically 
and through acquisition as we continue to deliver a widening range of cloud solutions.
Our revenues in the year were £65.8m, an increase of 18% over the previous year and our adjusted EBITDA of £29.1m showed a 23% 
increase over the previous year and our profit before tax increased by 11% to £10.8m. 
The opportunity remains to continue to grow both organically and through a disciplined acquisition strategy. 
Market
The market continues to grow and evolve. The number of companies offering cloud services also continues to grow alongside an ever 
faster consolidation of companies to achieve scale and presence.
Potential cloud customers are confronted by an ever more complex set of decisions in terms of cost, value, effectiveness, complexity, 
security and compliance. In response, an ecosystem of managed services providers and large infrastructure providers is growing to 
serve these customers. Because the cloud has disrupted the traditional IT value chain, cloud service providers (CSPs) are now forming 
key alliances allowing them to excel at the delivery of one or more service whether it be the delivery of infrastructure as a service (IaaS), 
platform as a service (PaaS) or software as a service (SaaS). 
Microsoft, Amazon (AWS) and Google (Public Cloud Providers) all have their own long term strategies to capture market share and all 
three of them have stated that we are at the very beginning of a long journey to full cloud adoption. All of these companies will require 
channel partners to go to market.
iomart is well placed to strengthen its position around that very complexity as customers look to find the best way forward for their 
own needs, whether that be private infrastructure in a datacentre of their choice,  Public Cloud infrastructure or more likely a mixture 
of the two combined with legacy on-premise infrastructure. The effective management of all these is the opportunity for iomart which 
we would collectively term the Hybrid Cloud.
iomart is investing in the relationships and skills to help customers make an informed choice across the cloud spectrum and to help 
them manage these environments moving forward.
Acquisitions
We again augmented our organic growth through the acquisition of ServerSpace Limited (“ServerSpace”) in December 2014. This has 
performed as expected over the period and integration is well underway.
We have just announced the acquisition of Systems Up Limited (“SystemsUp”) on 5 June 2015. SystemsUp has gained a reputation in 
the cloud market for expertise across a wide range of cloud products and services, with an emphasis on Public Cloud consultancy. 
We believe the skills and experience we have acquired will accelerate our progress in becoming credible suppliers of Hybrid Cloud 
to ensure we can make the ‘best fit’ recommendation for our customers along with the subsequent deployment and management of 
their ever more complex cloud environments.
We continue to look for businesses that fit our acquisition criteria with a view to making further acquisitions in the coming year.
Operational Review
Whilst all of our activities involve the provision of services from common infrastructure we are organised into two operating segments.
Strategic Report
Chief Executive Officer's Report
14 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Hosting
Our Hosting segment continued to perform well over the year, delivering an overall revenue growth rate of 23% and a satisfactory 
organic growth rate of 9% whilst increasing adjusted EBITDA margins from 48.6% to 50.0%.
We provide a wide range of managed hosting services to both SMEs and corporate customers.  All our solutions are delivered from 
our network of datacentres.
The more complex managed hosting solutions are delivered by iomart Hosting and customers typically pay for these services on a 
monthly basis on contracts ranging between one and three years in length. These solutions are provided to a wide range of customers, 
all of whom are at various stages of development and over the year we have seen some casualties amongst our base as customers 
experience funding difficulties, drop out of markets or become acquired and, as a result, are integrated elsewhere. All of which has 
resulted in some additional customer churn and some pricing pressure at contract renewal which, in turn, has adversely impacted our 
organic growth in the segment though we are still pleased with the level of growth achieved over the year. This area of our activity is 
the one which has the greatest opportunity arising out the Hybrid Cloud. However, the choice of direction to an adopter of Cloud is 
much more complex than before and thus we will require to become Hybrid Cloud Experts, especially in the consultation process an 
organisation will go through before making a final choice. We believe the acquisition of SystemsUp will provide us with a strong platform 
from which to attack the Hybrid Cloud opportunity.
We address the dedicated physical server market, or bare metal as it is becoming known, through our RapidSwitch and Redstation 
operations largely through online marketing. Melbourne delivers complex managed hosting solutions and provides us with a strong 
presence in the North West of England with a particular emphasis on the creative sector. Backup Technology provides enterprise class 
cloud backup and business continuity services. iomart Cloud Services provides a range of Cloud products, mainly through channel 
partners and this unit also provides Cloud services in the USA, following on from our investment in cloud infrastructure and backup 
assets in that region during the year. All these business units use common infrastructure and processes but there are different 
dynamics in each customer base.
Revenues in this segment have grown by 23% to £55.0m (2014: £44.7m) partly as a result of the continued organic growth and as a 
result of acquisitions.
Easyspace
The Easyspace segment has performed as expected over the year. 
Our activities within this segment provide a range of products to the micro and SME markets including domain names, shared, 
dedicated and virtual servers and email services.
As anticipated, revenues of £10.8m (2014: £11.0m) have remained around the same level as in the previous year, and with the benefit 
of delivering strong levels of cash for the Group.
Current trading and outlook
Trading since the year end remains encouraging and in line with our expectations.
We are working hard to ensure we remain at the leading edge in terms of the skill sets and experience to provide an ever more complex 
set of services to our customers and are confident of our abilities to do so, reinforced by the acquisition of SystemsUp in recent days.
We are well positioned for further significant growth.
I look forward, once again, with confidence to the year ahead.
Angus MacSween
Chief Executive Officer
8 June 2015
Strategic Report. Chief Executive Officer's Report
15 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Trading Results
Revenue
Revenues for the year grew by 18% to £65.8m (2014: £55.6m) through the combination of continued organic growth and the impact 
of acquisitions.
Our Hosting segment grew revenues by 23% to £55.0m (2014: £44.7m). This growth was helped by a full year contribution from 
Redstation and Backup Technology both of which we acquired in September 2013 and ServerSpace which was acquired in December 
2014. The growth in the Hosting segment revenues excluding the impact of acquisitions was 9%. 
Revenues within the Easyspace segment of £10.8m (2014: £11.0m) were close to the level of the previous year showing a very modest 
2% decrease.
We continue to have good revenue visibility and high levels of recurring revenue. With our larger customers we have multi-year 
contracts for the provision of complex managed hosting solutions.  Many of our smaller customers pay in advance for the provision of 
hosting services resulting in a substantial sum of deferred revenue which we then recognise during the period over which we provide 
our services.
Gross Margin
Our gross profit for the year was £44.3m (2014: £37.8m) and this increased as a result of the additional revenues we generated. 
In percentage terms we maintained our margin at 67.4% (2014: 68.0%) with both operating segments maintaining their respective 
percentage margins. 
Adjusted EBITDA
The adjusted EBITDA for the year was £29.1m (2014: £23.6m) an increase of 23%. Our percentage adjusted EBITDA margin has also 
significantly improved to 44.2% (2014: 42.5%). The Hosting segment increased both its absolute and relative margin over the period 
whilst the Easyspace segment performed very much in line with the previous year. 
The Hosting segment’s adjusted EBITDA was £27.5m (2014: £21.7m), an increase of 26.7%. In percentage terms the adjusted EBITDA 
margin has improved to 50.0% (2014: 48.6%). This greatly improved performance is a direct result of the additional gross margin 
delivered by the increase in sales revenue from the Hosting segment offset by an increase in administrative expenses. Administrative 
expenses have increased principally due to the impact of the acquisition made in the period and the full impact of the acquisitions 
made in the previous period. The inclusion of Redstation and Backup Technology for the full year has contributed to the improvement 
in the adjusted EBITDA in both absolute terms and percentage terms. The contribution from ServerSpace since its acquisition in 
December has contributed to the level of absolute margin improvement. 
The Easyspace segment’s adjusted EBITDA was £4.9m (2014: £5.0m) which was slightly less than in the previous year. In percentage 
terms the adjusted EBITDA margin has improved slightly to 45.5% (2014: 45.2%) due to careful control of costs.
Group overheads, which are not allocated to segments, include the cost of the Board, the running costs of the headquarters in 
Glasgow, Group marketing, human resource, finance and design functions and legal and professional fees for the year. These overhead 
costs have increased to £3.3m (2014: £3.0m) mainly due to increased payroll and staff related costs.
Adjusted profit before tax
Depreciation charges of £10.1m (2014: £7.2m) have increased largely as a consequence of the full year effect of acquisitions made in 
the previous year, the impact of the acquisition of ServerSpace in this financial year, as a result of charges for the equipment bought 
to provide services to the additional Hosting segment customers and charges in respect of the fit out of our Maidenhead datacentre 
which was completed at the start of this financial year.
Strategic Report 
Finance Director's Report
16 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
 
The charge for amortisation of intangibles, excluding amortisation of intangible assets resulting from acquisitions (“amortisation of 
acquired intangible assets”) of £1.0m (2014: £0.7m) has increased over the year as a consequence of the full year impact of the 
acquisition of Backup Technology which was acquired during the previous financial year and also due to the charge resulting from an 
increase in the level of capitalised development costs.
Finance income in the period was £nil (2014: £0.1m). Finance costs of £1.3m (2014: £1.2m), excluding the mark to market adjustment 
in respect of interest swaps on the Company’s loans and in the previous year the accelerated write off of arrangement fees on the early 
repayment of bank facilities, remained static over the period as our level of net borrowings remained at a similar level over the period.
After deducting the charges for depreciation, amortisation, excluding the charges for the amortisation of acquired intangible assets, 
and finance costs, excluding mark to market adjustments on the interest rate swap and in the previous year the accelerated write off of 
arrangement fees on the early repayment of the bank facilities, and crediting the finance income from the adjusted EBITDA, the Group’s 
adjusted profit before tax was £16.6m (2014: £14.6m) an increase of 14%.
The adjusted profit before tax margin for the year was 25% (2014: 26%). This modest reduction is largely due to the improvement of 
1.7% in the adjusted EBITDA margin over the year offset by the increase in depreciation charges as a percentage of revenue of 2.5%. 
That relative increase in the depreciation charge is mainly a consequence of the mix of sales revenue within our Hosting segment over 
the year, including the impact of a full year contribution from both Redstation and Backup Technology, and the commencement of 
depreciation charges on the Maidenhead datacentre which was completed early in this financial year.
Profit before tax
The measure of adjusted profit before tax is a non-statutory measure which is commonly used to analyse the performance of 
companies particularly where M&A activity forms a significant part of their activities.
  
A reconciliation of adjusted profit before tax to reported profit before tax is shown below:
  2015 2014
Reconciliation of adjusted profit before tax to profit before tax £’000 £’000
Adjusted profit before tax 16,613 14,612
Less: Amortisation of acquired intangible assets (4,368) (3,093)
Less: Acquisition costs (526) (374)
Less: Share based payments (809) (1,257)
Less: Mark to market adjustment on interest rate swaps (125) (20)
Less: Accelerated write off of arrangement fees on early repayment of bank facilities - (153)
Profit before tax 10,785 9,715
The adjusting items are: charges for the amortisation of acquired intangible assets of £4.4m (2014: £3.1m) which have increased 
substantially as a result of the acquisition made in the year and the full year effect of acquisitions made in previous years; costs of £0.5m 
(2014: £0.4m) as a result of acquisition costs; share based payment charges in the period of £0.8m (2014: £1.3m) which have decreased 
substantially as the charge in respect of share options granted in previous periods comes to an end; a mark to market adjustment in 
respect of interest rate swaps on the Company’s loans of £0.12m (2014: £0.02m) and the accelerated write off of arrangement fees on 
the early repayment of bank facilities during the year of £nil (2014: £0.15m).
After deducting charges for the amortisation of acquired intangible assets; acquisition costs; share based payments; mark to market 
adjustments in respect of interest rate swaps and in the previous year the accelerated write off of arrangement fees on the early 
repayment of bank facilities during the year from the adjusted profit before tax; the reported profit before tax was £10.8m (2014: 
£9.7m) an increase of 11%. In percentage terms the profit before tax margin was 16% (2014: 17%) with the reduction due to the same 
reasons as the adjusted profit before tax percentage margin reduction together with increased amortisation of acquired intangible 
assets charges offset by reduced shared based payment charges.
Taxation
There is a tax charge for the year of £1.9m (2014: £2.0m). The tax charge for the year is made up of a corporation tax charge of £2.7m 
(2014: £2.5m) with a deferred tax credit of £0.8m (2014: credit £0.5m). At the year end, the Group has unused tax losses of £1.2m 
(2014: £4.0m) available for offset against future profits, of which all have been provided for within deferred tax.
Profit for the year from total operations
After deducting the tax charge for the year from the profit before tax the Group has recorded a profit for the year from total operations 
of £8.9m (2014: £7.7m) an increase of 15%.
 
Earnings per share
Adjusted diluted earnings per share is based on profit for the year attributed to ordinary shareholders before share based payment 
charges, amortisation charges of acquired intangible assets, mark to market adjustments in respect of interest rate swaps, the 
accelerated write off of arrangement fees on the early repayment of bank facilities in the previous year, acquisition costs and the tax 
effect of these items was 12.63p (2014: 10.85p) an increase of 16%
The measure of adjusted diluted earnings per share as described above is a non-statutory measure which is commonly used to analyse 
the performance of companies particularly where M&A activity forms a significant part of their activities.
The calculation of both adjusted earnings per share and basic earnings per share is included at note 12.
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations was 8.34p (2014: 7.30p), an increase of 14% over the year. 
Strategic Report. Finance Director's Report
17 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Acquisitions
On 3 December 2014 the Company acquired ServerSpace for a maximum consideration of £4.2m; on a no cash no debt, normalised 
working capital basis. At completion an initial payment of £2.6m in cash was made. No payment was due in respect of the additional 
debt assumed, cash acquired and normalised working capital position of the company at completion. An additional sum is due related 
to the profitability of ServerSpace in the period to September 2015 and the estimated amount to be paid in this regard is £1.6m, which 
is also the maximum amount which could be due. Payment of this sum is expected to be made before the end of the 2015 calendar 
year. 
On 5 June 2015 the Company acquired the entire share capital of SystemsUp on a no debt, no cash, normalised working capital basis. 
At completion an initial payment of £9m in cash was made and in addition an amount of £0.5m was made as an interim settlement of 
the expected amount due in respect of the no debt, no cash, normalised working capital adjustment. A further sum is contingent on a 
measure of revenue for the year to 31 March 2016 which is expected to be paid in either May or June 2016. The potential contingent 
consideration payable has been initially estimated to be in the region of £1.0m to £3.5m.
Cash flow and net cash
Net cash flows from operating activities
The Group continued to generate high levels of operating cash over the year. Cash flow from operations was £27.2m (2014: £24.0m) 
with the significant increase of 13% over the previous year’s level largely due to the improvement in adjusted EBITDA. After deducting 
payments for corporation tax of £3.2m (2014: £2.3m) the net cash flow from operating activities was £24.0m (2014: £21.7m).
Cash flow from investing activities
In line with our strategy of accelerating our growth by acquisition the Group continued to incur substantial sums on investing activities, 
spending a total of £15.8m (2014: £31.5m) in the period. Of this amount, £2.4m (2014: £19.0m), was incurred in relation to acquisition 
activities described above. In addition the Group incurred expenditure of £1.3m (2014: £0.1m) in respect of contingent consideration 
due on the acquisition of Redstation.
The Group continues to invest in property, plant and equipment through expenditure on datacentres and on equipment required to 
provide managed services to both its existing and new customers. In addition the Group invested in cloud infrastructure and backup 
assets in the USA during the year. As a result the Group spent £10.7m (2014: £11.7m) on assets, net of related finance lease drawdown, 
trade creditor movements and non-cash reinstatement provisions.
Expenditure was also incurred on development costs of £1.0m (2014: £0.6m) and on intangible assets of £0.4m (2014: £nil).
Cash flow from financing activities
There was net cash spent on financing activities of £12.9m (2014: £11.4m cash generated). The Company’s borrowing facilities were 
restructured in the period with a term loan of £13.5m being repaid and an additional revolving credit facility of £13.5m being drawn 
down (2014: £37.5m drawdown). In addition further bank loan repayments of £8.5m were made resulting in total repayments of 
£22.0m (2014: £16.5m) in the year. We repaid borrowings on acquisitions of £nil (2014: £5.7m). We received £nil (2014: £0.2m) from 
the issue of shares as a result of the exercise of options by employees. We also made a dividend payment of £1.9m (2014: £1.5m) and 
incurred finance costs of £1.3m (2014: £1.2m).  
Net cash flow
As a consequence, our overall cash expenditure during the year was £4.7m (2014: £1.6m cash generated) which resulted in cash and 
cash equivalent balances at the end of the year of £8.3m (2014: £13.0m). After recognising bank loans of £21.5m (2014: £30.0m) and 
finance lease obligations of £2.2m (2014: £2.8m) net debt balances at the end of the period stood at £15.4m (2014: £19.8m) a level the 
Board is comfortable with given the strong cash generation of the Group.
Exposure to credit and liquidity risks
Disclosures relating to our exposure to credit and liquidity risks are outlined in note 30.
Financial position
The Group is now in a position where it is generating substantial amounts of operating cash. The generation of that cash flow together 
with the committed bank loan facility for acquisitions and finance lease facilities which are available to fund capital expenditure, means 
that the Group has the liquidity it requires to continue its growth through both organic and acquisitive means.
Richard Logan
Finance Director
8 June 2015
Strategic Report. Finance Director's Report
18 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Key performance indicator review
 Revenue Growth 2015 2014
  Revenue £65.8m £55.6m
  Growth 18% increase 29% increase
Revenue from continuing operations grew by 18% over the year compared to a growth of 29% in the previous year. The Hosting 
segment grew revenues by 23% (2014: 40%) and the Easyspace segment declined by 2% (2014: 1%).
 Adjusted EBITDA Margin 2015 2014
  Adjusted EBITDA £29.1m £23.6m
  Adjusted EBITDA margin 44% 42%
The adjusted EBITDA margin has shown a modest improvement as a result of the Hosting segment both continuing to win new 
business and the impact of acquisitions both in the previous year and in the current year. Easyspace has also contributed to 
the adjusted EBITDA margin improvement through increased operational efficiencies.
Principal risks and uncertainties
The board has established a formal process to identify risks and uncertainties through the production and maintenance of a 
risk register. There are a number of potential risks and uncertainties which have been identified as a result of this process which 
could have a material impact on the Group’s future performance. These are not all the risks which the board has identified 
but those that the Directors currently consider to be the most material. In addition to these risks Note 30 contains details of 
financial risks.
 Staff
 As with any service organisation iomart is dependent on the skill, experience and commitment of its employees and
 especially a relatively small number of senior staff. The performance of the Group could be adversely affected if the 
 required staffing levels are not maintained. The Group seeks to recruit and retain suitably skilled and experienced staff 
 by offering a challenging and rewarding work environment. This includes competitive and innovative reward packages and 
 a strong commitment to training and development.
 Datacentre operation
 Any downtime experienced at our datacentres would immediately have an impact on our ability to provide customers 
 with the level of service they demand. Should the Group be unable to provide the required level of service this could 
 have an adverse effect on the Group’s performance through the loss of customers and reputation. Our ongoing 
 investment in preventative maintenance and lifecycle replacement programme ensures our datacentres continue to 
 deliver operational efficiency and effectiveness.
 Network
 The service we provide to customers is dependent on the continued operation of our fibre network which connects our  
 datacentre estate. Should the network fail there would be an adverse impact on customers. The Group has implemented 
 a resilient network throughout its datacentre estate with no single points of failure to ensure the likelihood of network 
 failure is minimised.
 Customers
 The Group provides an essential service to an extensive client base many of whom rely on the provision of that service 
 for their major internet presence. Any diminution in the level of service could have serious consequences for customer 
 acquisition and retention. Our high level of recurring revenue and our low level of customer attrition are evidence of our 
 ability to provide the level of service required.
 
 Key suppliers
 The Group is dependent on certain key suppliers for the continued operation of its business, the most significant of which 
 are those for electricity, bandwidth and servers. Were any of these key suppliers to fail in their service provision to the 
 Group this could have an adverse effect on the Group’s ability to provide services to its customers. In all cases these 
 supplies are obtained from reputable organisations chosen after a thorough selection process. After selection, the Group 
 actively seeks to maintain good relationships with the chosen suppliers. The Group also seeks to maintain either several 
 sources of supply or in the case of electricity alternative sources of power.
Strategic Report. Key Performance Indicators and Prinicipal Risks and Uncertainties
19 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Strategic Report. Key Performance Indicators and Prinicipal Risks and Uncertainties
 Search engine optimisation
 A significant amount of the Group’s sales revenues are generated through consumers using internet search engines to 
 acquire goods and services. Should the Group’s search engine optimisation performance deteriorate this could have 
 an adverse effect on the revenue of the Group. The Group continually monitors the position of its websites with respect  
 to these search engines. Through the allocation of experienced staff the Group seeks to maintain or enhance the position 
 of its websites for detection by internet search engines.
 Growth management
 The Group is experiencing high levels of growth through both organic and acquisitive means. As a consequence we need 
 to continue to evolve as an organisation to meet the demands that such growth places on our business operations. 
 Failure to evolve in the necessary way could lead to deterioration in overall business performance. As part of our  
 annual strategy and budget review process, which is updated as necessary throughout the year we identify the resource 
 and organisational changes that are needed to support our growth. In addition a detailed integration and migration plan 
 is produced for each acquisition that is made to ensure the acquired operation is successfully integrated into the Group’s 
 operations.
 Acquisitions
 The Group has made several acquisitions over the last years and has a stated strategy to continue to make acquisitions. 
 This produces three areas of risk:
 • Acquisition target risk – We may not be able to identify suitable targets for acquisition. Through a combination of 
  internal research and external relations we maintain an active pipeline of potential acquisition targets.  
 • Acquisition integration risk – We may not integrate the acquired business into the Group in an effective manner and 
  as a consequence could lose staff and customers of the acquired business. For each acquisition we prepare a detailed 
  integration and migration plan which includes the participation of the vendor to ensure successful integration of the 
  acquired business into the Group’s operations.
 • Acquisition performance risk – The acquired business may not perform in line with expectations. As a consequence the 
  expected financial performance of the operation may not be achieved with a resulting adverse effect on profits and 
  cashflow.  For each acquisition diligence and integration planning is undertaken and all potential synergies identified.
The Strategic Report on pages 13 to 20 has been approved by the Board and is signed on its behalf:
Richard Logan
Finance Director
8 June 2015
20 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
iomart has carried out a major server and storage migration for Barton Willmore, the 
UK’s leading integrated planning and design consultancy. Barton Willmore recently 
steered the new £40m ‘Islands’ attraction at Chester Zoo, the biggest development in 
the history of UK zoos, through the planning process.
 “Our data is our gold and without it there is no Barton Willmore. It really is very important 
to us to know that it is secure and protected within iomart’s network.” 
Lee Cripps, IT Manager, Barton Willmore iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Corporate Governance
1. Ian Ritchie, Chairman
2. Angus MacSween, Chief Executive
3. Crawford Beveridge, Non Executive Director
4. Chris Batterham, Non Executive Director
5. Richard Logan, Group Finance Director
6. Sarah Haran, Chief Operations Officer
Board of Directors
1
3
5
2
4
6
22 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Sarah Haran
Chief Operations Officer
49, appointed 2000; Sarah has spent 
her career implementing and managing 
operations centres for large corporations 
such as Microsoft Inc, Compaq Inc, 
Scottish Power plc and Prestel Limited. 
She joined iomart in 1998, from Scottish 
Telecom plc and has been responsible 
for developing the day-to-day business 
processes and technical operations to 
support the Group’s customer base.
Richard Logan
Group Finance Director
57, appointed 2006; Richard is a 
chartered accountant having qualified 
with Arthur Young in 1984. Richard 
then spent 7 years with Ben Line 
Group initially as Group treasurer and 
latterly as financial director of Ben 
Line’s main container shipping division.  
From 1992 to 2002 Richard served 
as finance director of Kingston SCL a 
company which provided administration 
and billing software to the mobile 
communications market during which 
time he was involved in a management 
buy-out and subsequent trade sale of 
the company.  Immediately prior to 
joining iomart Richard served as finance 
director of ePOINT Group, a technology 
company based in Scotland.
Crawford Beveridge
Non-Executive Director
69, appointed 2011; Crawford Beveridge 
CBE has over 40 years experience in 
the technology industry, including 16 
years at Sun Microsystems ("Sun"), most 
recently as Executive Vice President 
and Chairman, EMEA, APAC and the 
Americas until retiring in January 2010. 
His business background also includes 
roles with Hewlett-Packard, Digital 
Equipment Corp., Analog Devices, non-
executive director of Hitachi Global 
Storage Technologies, a subsidiary 
of Hitachi Ltd and Chief Executive of 
Scottish Enterprise. Current board roles 
include Chairman of the investment 
advisory board at Scottish Equity 
Partners and Non Executive Chairman 
of NASDAQ listed Autodesk.
Chris Batterham
Non-Executive Director
60, appointed 2005; Chris was finance 
director of Unipalm plc, the first internet 
company to IPO and stayed with the 
company for 5 years following its 
takeover by UUnet.  He was CFO of 
Searchspace until 2005 and is currently 
chairman of Eckoh plc and a non 
executive director of  SDL plc, NCC 
Group plc and Toumaz Ltd.  Chris has 
also served on the boards of Staffware 
plc, DBS Management plc and Betfair 
plc.
Angus MacSween
Chief Executive Officer
58, appointed 2000; after a short 
service commission in the Royal Navy, 
Angus started his first business selling 
telephone systems in 1984. Since selling 
this first business he has established, 
grown and sold 5 profitable businesses 
in the telephony and internet sector. 
Following the sale of Teledata Limited, 
the UK’s leading telephone information 
services company to Scottish Telecom 
plc, Angus spent two years on the 
executive of Scottish Telecom plc where 
he was responsible for the development 
of the company's Internet division. In 
December 1998 Angus founded iomart.  
Ian Ritchie
Non-Executive Chairman
64, appointed 2008; currently Chairman 
of Computer Application Services 
Ltd, Interactive Design Institute Ltd, 
Cogbooks Ltd and Red Fox Media Ltd. 
He is a past President of the British 
Computer Society and the current 
Vice President (Business) of the Royal 
Society of Edinburgh. Ian was founding 
chairman of several technology 
companies, including Voxar Ltd (now 
part of Toshiba), Orbital Software Group 
plc (now part of Sopheon plc), Digital 
Bridges Ltd (now part of Oberon Inc) 
and Sonaptic Ltd (now part of Cirrus 
Logic Inc).
23 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
As the company is listed on the Alternative Investment Market it is not required to comply with the provisions of the UK Corporate 
Governance Code (the “Code”) issued in September 2012. However, the Board is committed to ensuring that proper standards of 
corporate governance operate and has established governance procedures and policies that are considered appropriate to the nature 
and size of the Group. 
We do not comply with the Code. We have reported on our Corporate Governance arrangements by drawing upon best practice 
available including those aspects of the Code we consider to be relevant to the Company. The Board considers that at this stage in the 
Group’s development the expense of full compliance with the Code is not appropriate.
The Board
The Code requires the Company to have an effective Board whose role is to develop strategy and provide leadership to the Company 
as a whole, as well as ensuring a framework of controls exist which allow for the identification, assessment and management of risk, 
ultimately taking collective responsibility for the success of the Company.
Through the leadership of the Chairman, the Board sets the Company’s strategic goals; ensuring obligations to shareholders are met. 
Matters reserved for a decision of the Board include approval of Group strategy, annual budgets and business plans, acquisitions, 
disposals, business development, annual reports, interim statements, and any significant funding and capital expenditure plans.
The Board meets regularly, usually monthly, to discuss and agree on the various matters brought before it, including the trading results. 
The Company has a highly committed and experienced Board, which is supported by a senior management team, with the qualification 
and experience necessary for the running of the Group.
In addition, there is regular communication between Executive and Non-Executive Directors, where appropriate, to update the Non-
Executive Directors on matters requiring attention prior to the next Board meeting. 
Role of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
The Code requires that there should be a clear division of responsibilities between the running of the Board and the executive 
responsible for the Company’s business, so as to ensure that no one person has unrestricted powers of decision.
The Chairman is responsible for the leadership of the Board, ensuring its effectiveness and setting its agenda. Once strategic and 
financial objectives have been agreed by the Board, it is the Chief Executive Officer’s responsibility to ensure they are delivered upon. 
To facilitate this, the Chief Executive Officer chairs the Group’s Operations Boards which additionally comprises the other executive 
directors and, where appropriate, senior members of the management team. The day-to-day operation of the Group’s business is 
managed by these Boards.
The Chairman holds other directorships, as detailed in his biography on page 23. The Board has considered the time commitment 
required by his other roles and has concluded they do not detract from his chairmanship of the Company.
Composition of and Appointments to the Board
The Code requires that there should be a balance of Executive and Non-Executive Directors and when appointing new Directors to the 
Board there should be a formal, rigorous and transparent procedure.
The Board comprises a Non-Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Finance Director, Chief Operating Officer and two independent 
Non-Executive Directors. Short biographies of the directors are given on page 23. 
All Non-Executive Directors serving at the year-end are considered to be independent. The Board does not consider the shareholdings 
of the Non-Executive Directors as detailed on page 30 to have any effect on their independence.
The Board is satisfied with this balance between Executive and Non-Executive Directors. The Board considers that its composition 
is appropriate in view of the size and requirements of the Group’s business and the need to maintain a practical balance between 
Executive and Non-Executive Directors.
Each member of the Board brings different experience and skills to the Board and its various committees. The Board composition is 
kept under review as this mix of skills and business experience is a major contributing factor to the proper functioning of the Board, 
helping to ensure matters are fully debated and that no individual or group dominates the Board decision-making process.
 
When a new appointment to the Board is made, consideration is given to the particular skills, knowledge and experience that a 
potential new member could add to the existing Board composition. A formal process is then undertaken, which may involve external 
recruitment agencies, with appropriate consideration being given, in regards to Executive appointments, to internal and external 
candidates. Before undertaking the appointment of a Non-Executive Director, the Chairman establishes that the prospective Director 
can give the time and commitment necessary to fulfil their duties, in terms of availability both to prepare for and attend meetings and 
to discuss matters at other times.
Corporate Governance Report
24 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Information and Development
A further principle of the Code is that information of a sufficient quality is supplied to the Board in a timely manner. 
The Chairman is responsible for ensuring that all the Directors continually update their skills, their knowledge and familiarity with the 
Group in order to fulfil their role on the Board and the Board’s Committees. Updates dealing with changes in legislation and regulation 
relevant to the Group’s business are provided to the Board by the Company Secretary/Finance Director and through the Board 
Committees.
All Directors have access to the advice and services of the Company Secretary, who is responsible to the Board for ensuring the 
Board procedures are properly complied with and that the discussions and decisions are appropriately minuted. Directors may seek 
independent professional advice at the Company’s expense in furtherance of their duties as Directors.
Training in matters relevant to their role on the Board is available to all Board Directors. New Directors are provided with an induction 
in order to introduce them to the operations and management of the business.
Performance Evaluation
The Code requires the Board to undertake a formal and rigorous evaluation of its own performance annually and that of its committees 
and individual Directors. 
During the year a formal evaluation was conducted by means of a detailed questionnaire which was completed by each Director. The 
results of this process were collated by the Chairman and discussed by the Board collectively. The evaluation included a review of 
the performance of individual Directors, including the Chairman, and the Board Committees. Based on this evaluation the Board has 
concluded that its performance in the past year has been satisfactory. 
Re-election
Under the Code, Directors should offer themselves for re-election at regular intervals and under the Company’s Articles of Association, 
at every Annual General Meeting, at least one third of the Directors who are subject to retirement by rotation, are required to retire 
and may be proposed for re-election. In addition, any Director who was last appointed or re-appointed three years or more prior to 
the AGM is required to retire from office and may be proposed for re-election. Such retirement will count in obtaining the number 
required to retire at the AGM. New Directors, who were not appointed at the previous AGM, automatically retire at their first AGM and, 
if eligible, can seek re-appointment.
Two Directors will retire from office at the Company’s forthcoming AGM and stand for re-appointment.
Board Committees
The Board has established two committees to deal with specific aspects of the Board’s affairs: Audit and Remuneration Committees. 
The Board has also established a Nominations Committee which is chaired by Ian Ritchie and includes Crawford Beveridge, Chris 
Batterham and the Chief Executive Officer.
 
Attendance at Board and Committee Meetings
Attendances of Directors at Board and Committee meetings convened in the year, along with the number of meetings that they were 
invited to attend, are set out below:
 Board Remuneration Audit
  Committee  Committee
 Held Attended Held Attended Held Attended
      
Ian Ritchie – Non-Executive Chairman 10 10 2 2 3 3
Angus MacSween  – Chief Executive Officer 10 10 - - - -
Sarah Haran  – Chief Operating Officer 10 9 - - - -
Chris Batterham – Non-Executive Director 10 10 2 2 3 3
Crawford Beveridge – Non-Executive Director 10 9 2 2 3 3
Richard Logan – Finance Director  10 10 - - - -
Corporate Governance Report
25 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
The Audit Committee
The Audit Committee’s role is to assist the Board with the discharge of its responsibilities in relation to the internal controls and external 
audits. The Audit Committee will normally meet at least three times a year. The Audit Committee is chaired by Chris Batterham and its 
other members are Ian Ritchie and Crawford Beveridge. The Finance Director, Chief Executive Officer and other senior management 
attend meetings by invitation and the Committee also meets the external auditors without management present. Chris Batterham, as 
chairman of the Audit Committee, has recent and relevant financial experience.
During the year, the Audit Committee, operating under its terms of reference, discharged its responsibilities, including reviewing and 
monitoring:
 • interim and annual reports, information including consideration of the appropriateness of accounting policies;
 • material assumptions and estimates adopted by management;
 • developments in accounting and reporting requirements;
 • external auditor’s plans for the year-end audit of the Company and its subsidiaries;
 • the Committee’s effectiveness;
 • the Risk Register covering the systems of internal control and their effectiveness, reporting and making new recommendations 
  to the Board on the results of the review and receiving regular updates on key risk areas of financial control;
 • the performance and independence of the external auditor concluding in a recommendation to the Board on the reappointment 
  of the auditor by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting. The auditor reports annually to the Committee confirming their 
  independence and stating the methods they employ to safeguard their independence;
 • non-audit fees charged by the external auditor; and
 • the formal engagement terms entered into with the external auditor.
Under its terms of reference the Audit Committee is responsible for monitoring the independence, objectivity and performance of 
external auditors, and for making a recommendation to the Board regarding the appointment of external auditors on an annual basis. 
The Group’s external auditors, Grant Thornton UK LLP, were first appointed as external auditor of the Company for the period ended 
31 March 2005.
 
The Remuneration Committee
The Remuneration Committee is chaired by Crawford Beveridge and its other members are Ian Ritchie and Chris Batterham. It is normal 
for the Chief Executive Officer to be invited to attend meetings except where matters under review by the Committee relate to him.
The Committee has responsibility for making recommendations to the Board on the remuneration packages of the Executive Directors 
which includes:
 • making recommendations to the Board on the Company’s policy on Directors’ remuneration and overseeing long term incentive 
  plans (including share option schemes for all employees);
 • ensuring remuneration is both appropriate to the level of responsibility and adequate to attract and/or retain Directors and staff 
  of the calibre required by the Company; and
 • ensuring that remuneration is in line with current industry practice.
Internal Control
The Directors, who are responsible for the Group’s system of internal control, have established systems to ensure that an appropriate 
level of oversight and control is provided. The systems are reviewed for effectiveness annually by the Audit Committee and the Board. 
The Group’s systems of internal control are designed to help the Company meet its business objectives by appropriately managing, 
rather than eliminating, the risks to those objectives. The controls can only provide reasonable, not absolute, assurance against material 
misstatement or loss. Executive Directors and senior management meet to review both the risks facing the business and the controls 
established to minimise those risks and their effectiveness in operation on an on-going basis. The aim of these reviews is to provide 
reasonable assurance that material risks and problems are identified and appropriate action taken at an early stage.
The Board confirms that procedures to identify, evaluate and manage the significant risks faced by the Group have been in place 
throughout the year and up to the date of approval of the Annual Report.
Corporate Governance Report
26 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Financial Control
The annual financial plan is reviewed and approved by the Board. Financial results with comparisons to plan and forecast results are 
reported on monthly to the Board together with a report on operational achievements, objectives and issues encountered. Significant 
variances from plan are discussed at Board meetings and actions set in place to address them.
Approval levels for authorisation of expenditure are at set levels and cascaded through the management structure with any expenditure 
in excess of predefined levels requiring approval from the executive directors.
Relations with Shareholders
The Chief Executive Officer and Finance Director have, where appropriate, had regular dialogue with shareholders and analysts to 
discuss strategic and other issues including the Company’s financial results.
The Company engages in full and open communication with both institutional and private investors and responds promptly to all 
queries received. In conjunction with the Company’s brokers and other financial advisers all relevant news is distributed in a timely 
fashion through appropriate channels to ensure shareholders are able to access material information on the Company’s progress. The 
Company’s website has a section for investors, which contains all publicly available financial information and news on the Company.
Going Concern
The Directors, having made suitable enquiries and analysis of the accounts, consider that the Group has adequate resources to 
continue in business for the foreseeable future. For this reason, the Directors continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing 
the financial statements. In making this assessment, the Directors have considered the Group budgets, the cash flow forecasts and 
associated risks and the availability of bank and leasing facilities.
 
AIM Rule Compliance Report
iomart Group plc is quoted on AIM and as a result the Company has complied with AIM Rule 31 which requires the following:
 • Have in place sufficient procedures, resources and controls to enable its compliance with the AIM Rules;
 • Seek advice from its Nominated Advisor (“Nomad”) regarding its compliance with the Rules whenever appropriate and take that 
  advice into account;
 • Provide the Company’s Nomad with any information it reasonably requests in order for the Nomad to carry out its responsibilities 
  under the AIM Rules for Nominated Advisors, including any proposed changes to the Board and Provision of draft notifications 
  in advance;
 • Ensure that each of the Company’s Directors accepts full responsibility, collectively and individually, for compliance with the AIM 
  rules; and
 • Ensure that each Director discloses without delay all information which the Company needs in order to comply with AIM Rule 
  17 (Disclosure of Miscellaneous Information) insofar as that information is known to the director or could with reasonable 
  diligence be ascertained by the Director.
Quality of Personnel and Employee Involvement
The Group is committed to attracting and retaining the highest level of personnel. It strives to do this through, amongst other things, 
the application of high standards in recruitment. The Group is aware of the importance of good communication in relationships with 
its staff and also follows a policy of encouraging training.
A number of employees participate in the growth of the business through the ownership of share options with some employees also 
participating in the Group bonus scheme.
Business Ethics
The Board recognises that the Company is accountable to its shareholders and, at the same time, seeks to take into account the 
interests of all its stakeholders including customers, suppliers and subcontractors, employees, as well as the local community, and the 
environment in which it operates.
The Group maintains core values of Honesty, Integrity, Hard Work, Service and Quality and actively promotes these values in all activities 
undertaken on behalf of the Group.
Corporate Governance Report
27 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Customers
The Group treats all of its customers with the utmost respect and seeks to be honest and fair in all relationships with them. The Group 
provides its customers with products of high quality.
Suppliers and Subcontractors
Relationships with suppliers and subcontractors are based on mutual respect, and the Group seeks to be honest and fair in its 
relationships with suppliers and subcontractors, and to honour the terms and conditions of its agreements in place with such suppliers 
and subcontractors.
The Group is aware that the giving or accepting of bribes is not acceptable business conduct.
Employees
The Group recognises the importance of its employees and that the success of the Group is due to their efforts. The Group respects the 
dignity and rights of all its employees. The Group provides clean, healthy and safe working conditions. An inclusive working environment 
and a culture of openness are maintained by the regular dissemination of information.
 
The Group endeavours to provide equal opportunities for all employees and facilitates the development of employees’ skill sets. A fair 
remuneration policy is adopted throughout the Group.
The Group does not tolerate any sexual, physical or mental harassment of its employees. The Group operates an equal opportunities 
policy and specifically prohibits discrimination on grounds of colour, ethnic origin, gender, ages, religion, political or other opinion, 
disability, or sexual orientation.  
By order of the Board
Bruce Hall 
Company secretary
8 June 2015
Corporate Governance Report
28 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
As the Company is listed on the Alternative Investment Market it 
is not required to comply with the provisions of the UK Corporate 
Governance Code 2012 (“Code”) issued by the Financial 
Reporting Council. However, in framing its remuneration policy 
the committee has given consideration to the Code and other 
than details of Directors’ remuneration which is required by AIM 
Rule 19 the other disclosures are voluntary as is the resolution 
to approve this report at the annual general meeting.
Remuneration committee
The remuneration committee determines, on behalf of the board, 
the Group’s policy for executive remuneration and the individual 
remuneration packages for executive directors. In setting the 
Group’s remuneration policy, the remuneration committee 
considers a number of factors, including the following:
 • salaries and benefits available to executive directors of 
  comparable companies;
 • the need to attract and retain executives of an appropriate 
  calibre; and
 • the continued commitment of executives to the Group’s 
  success through appropriate incentive schemes.
The committee normally meets at least twice per year.
Remuneration of executive directors
The remuneration packages of the executive directors comprise 
the following elements:
• Base salary
The remuneration committee sets base salaries to reflect 
responsibilities and the skill, knowledge and experience of 
the individual.  Base salaries are reviewed annually and the 
remuneration committee considers external expert advice when 
setting the level of reward packages. The executive directors do 
not receive directors’ fees.
• Bonus scheme
The executive directors are eligible to receive a bonus on 
top of their basic salary dependent on individual and Group 
performance at the discretion of the remuneration committee.  
The level of executive directors’ discretionary bonus payments is 
determined by a number of factors including the Group’s financial 
performance and the individual’s non-financial performance. For 
the executive directors, there may be an opportunity to sacrifice 
their potential bonus in exchange for a payment into a pension 
plan.
• Pensions
Pension contributions to individuals’ personal pension 
arrangements are payable by the Group at the rate of twice 
the contribution made by the director subject to a maximum 
employer contribution of 10% of basic salary.
•  Share options
The Group operates share option plans for executive directors 
and managers as a combined reward and incentive for those 
who have made a major contribution to the Group and will 
continue to play a key role in helping the Group achieve its 
objectives in the future.  Whenever an award under a share 
option plan is made performance conditions are attached to 
the award consistent with the objectives of the Group. No share 
options awarded will vest any earlier than the third anniversary 
of the date of grant of the option.
• Other benefits
The executive directors are entitled to life insurance cover and 
to participate in the Group’s Private Medical Insurance scheme.
All of the executive directors are engaged under service contracts 
which require a notice period of 6 or 12 months. 
Remuneration of non-executive directors
The fees paid to the non-executive directors are determined by 
the board. They are not entitled to receive any bonus or other 
benefits.
Non-executive directors’ letters of appointment are on a 6 
month rolling basis.
 
Report of the board to the members on directors' remuneration
29 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Directors’ remuneration (this information has been audited)
Details of individual directors’ emoluments for the year are as follows:
     Year ended Year ended
     31 March  31March
    Pension 2015 2014
Name of director Salary or fees Bonus Benefits contributions Total     Total
 £ £ £ £ £ £
Angus MacSween 293,700 220,275 2,989 - 516,964 558,829
Chris Batterham 35,000 - - - 35,000 30,000
Crawford Beveridge 25,000 - - - 25,000 25,000
Sarah Haran 170,000 127,500 680 17,000 315,180 331,846
Richard Logan 180,200 135,150 2,172 18,020 335,542 333,806
Ian Ritchie 55,000 - - - 55,000 50,000
 
 758,900         482,925 5,841 35,020 1,282,686        1,329,481        
Directors’ interests in shares
The interests of the directors in the shares of the company at 31 March 2015, together with their interests at 1 April 2014 were as 
follows:
 Number of ordinary shares
 31 March 2015  At 1 April 2014
Name of director  
Angus MacSween 16,800,552 16,800,552
Chris Batterham  90,621 90,621
Crawford Beveridge  30,000 30,000
Sarah Haran 1,963,747 1,963,747
Richard Logan 981,393 981,393
Ian Ritchie 151,400 151,400
Report of the board to the members on directors' remuneration
30 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Directors’ interests in share options (this information has been audited)
The interests of the directors at 31 March 2015 in options over the ordinary shares of the Company were as follows:
 At    At 31   Date from
Name of  1 April    March Exercise Date of which Expiry
director   2014  Exercised Granted Lapsed 2015 price Grant exerciseable date 
 
  
Angus MacSween 43,010 - - - 43,010 46.5p 06/10/2008 31/03/2009 06/10/2018
 113,334 - - - 113,334 1p 27/03/2013 31/05/2014 27/03/2023
 113,333 - - - 113,333 1p 27/03/2013 31/05/2015 27/03/2023
 113,333 - - - 113,333 1p 27/03/2013 31/05/2016 27/03/2023
 - - 117,480 - 117,480 1p 25/09/2014 25/09/2017 25/09/2024
         
 383,010 - 117,480 - 500,490    
         
Sarah Haran 58,115 - - - 58,115 50.5p 27/09/2007 27/09/2010 27/09/2017
 42,913 - - - 42,913 46.5p 06/10/2008 31/03/2009 06/10/2018
 80,000 - - - 80,000 1p 27/03/2013 31/05/2014 27/03/2023
 80,000 - - - 80,000 1p 27/03/2013 31/05/2015 27/03/2023
 80,000 - - - 80,000 1p 27/03/2013 31/05/2016 27/03/2023
 - - 68,000 - 68,000 1p 25/09/2014 25/09/2017 25/09/2024
         
 341,028 - 68,000 - 409,208    
         
Richard Logan 50,000 - - - 50,000 74.0p 24/08/2006 24/08/2009 24/08/2016
 28,495 - - - 28,495 46.5p 06/10/2008 31/03/2010 06/10/2018
 80,000 - - - 80,000 1p 27/03/2013 31/05/2014 27/03/2023
 80,000 - - - 80,000 1p 27/03/2013 31/05/2015 27/03/2023
 80,000 - - - 80,000 1p 27/03/2013 31/05/2016 27/03/2023
 - - 72,080 - 72,080 1p 25/09/2014 25/09/2017 25/09/2024
         
 318,495 - 72,080 - 390,575    
         
During the year options over 257,560 ordinary shares (2014: nil) were granted to Directors under the unapproved share option scheme 
with an average exercise price of 1.0p per share. No share options were exercised by the Directors.
The market price of the company’s shares at the end of the financial period was 204.50p and the range of prices during the period 
was between 160.00p and 284.62p.
By order of the board
Crawford Beveridge
Chairman, Remuneration committee
8 June 2015
Report of the board to the members on directors' remuneration
31 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
The directors present their annual report on the affairs of the 
Group, together with the financial statements and auditor’s 
report, for the year ended 31 March 2015.
Financial instruments
The Group’s financial instruments comprise cash and liquid 
resources, bank loans and finance leases together with various 
items such as trade debtors and trade creditors that arise 
directly from its operations.  The main purpose of these financial 
instruments is to provide finance for the Group’s operations. On 
28 July 2014 the Group agreed a new bank facility with Lloyds 
Banking Group comprising a £15m multi option revolving credit 
facility which together with the existing £20m multi option 
revolving credit facility provided £35m of total facilities. The new 
multi option revolving credit facility replaced a £15m term loan 
facility.
At the beginning of the year under the bank facilities there was 
£15m outstanding on the multi option revolving credit facility 
and £15m outstanding on the term loan.  In April 2014, £1.5m 
was repaid on the term loan. Following the agreement of the 
new bank facility, the remaining £13.5m of the term loan was 
repaid in July 2014 and a draw down under the new multi option 
revolving credit facility of £13.5m was made. This resulted in 
the total drawn down of multi option revolving credit facilities 
of £28.5m.
In September 2014, £3.5m and in March 2015, £3.5m were 
repaid on the new multi option revolving credit facility which left 
an outstanding balance at the year end of £21.5m.
The £35m multi option revolving credit facility may be used 
by the Group to finance acquisitions, capital expenditure and 
for the issue of guarantees, bonds or indemnities. The facility 
is available until October 2017 at which point any advances 
made under the revolving credit facility will become immediately 
repayable. In addition, each draw down made under this facility 
can be for either 3 or 6 months and can either be repaid or 
continued at the end of the period. Interest is charged on this 
loan at an annual rate determined by the sum of the term loan 
margin, LIBOR and the lender’s mandatory costs. The multi 
option credit facility margin is fixed at 2.0% per annum. A one-off 
arrangement fee of £337,500 was paid in respect of the £20m 
multi option revolving credit facility when the facility was first 
drawn down and a non-utilisation fee of 40% of the multi option 
revolving credit facility margin is due on any undrawn portion of 
the full £35m multi option revolving credit facilities. The effective 
interest rate for multi option revolving credit loans in the current 
year was 3.82% (2014: 4.41%).
The Group has exposure to movements in interest rates on its 
borrowings. The Group has entered into an interest rate swap 
in respect of £10m which has been drawn under the revolving 
credit facility from April 2015 which reduces by £2m every 6 
months until October 2017 and as a consequence the interest 
rate on that loan is fixed at 2.03% from April 2015 until maturity. 
The Group has also entered interest rate swap arrangements in 
respect of £4m which has been drawn under the multi option 
credit facility which has been fixed at 1.02% until June 2015 
and £5m drawn under the multi option credit facility which 
has been fixed at 1.26% from August 2014 for 12 months. The 
remaining £12.5m drawn under the multi option credit facility is 
not covered by interest rate swap arrangements. The Group’s 
borrowings at 31 March 2015 comprise finance leases totalling 
£2.3m (2014: £2.8m) and bank loans totalling £21.5m (2014: 
£30.0m).  The interest rates on the finance leases are fixed 
for the term of the lease at between 5.6% and 11.5% and the 
average interest rate was 8.9% (2014: 8.4%). 
The Group has exposure to movements in the exchange rate of 
the US dollar as certain domain name purchases are transacted 
in this currency. To protect cash flows against the level of 
exchange rate risk, the Group entered into forward exchange 
contracts to hedge foreign exchange exposures arising on the 
forecast payments. The majority of transactions of the parent 
company and the UK subsidiaries are in UK sterling and, with the 
exception of forward foreign exchange contracts and interest 
rate swaps, the Group does not use derivative instruments.  
Additional information on financial instruments is included in 
Note 30.
Dividend
The directors have not declared an interim dividend for the year 
ended 31 March 2015 (2014: nil). The directors recommend a 
final dividend for the year ended 31 March 2015 of 2.50p per 
share (2014: 1.75p per share).  
Research and development
The Group develops cloud computing products including private 
cloud platforms, hybrid cloud platforms, virtual platforms, online 
backup and storage solutions and email related products.   
Directors and their interests
The present membership of the board is set out on page 
85. In accordance with the company’s Articles of Association, 
Angus MacSween and Richard Logan will offer themselves for 
re-election at the forthcoming annual general meeting.  
Details of directors’ interests in the company’s shares are set 
out in the Report of the Board to the Members on Directors’ 
Remuneration on pages 29 to 31. 
Directors' Report
32 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Substantial shareholdings
At 29 May 2015 the following interests in 3% or more of the 
issued ordinary share capital, excluding shares held by the 
iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust, had been notified to 
the Company: 
Shareholder Shares Percentage held
Angus MacSween  16,800,552  15.74%
Liontrust Asset 
Management 14,447,764 13.54%
Octopus Investments 6,502,425 6.09%
Tosca Asset 
Management LLP 6,200,000 5.81%
Schroders plc 5,550,256 5.20%
Noble Grossart 
Investment Limited
 3,505,000 3.28%
British Steel Pension 
Fund Trustees Ltd 3,235,797 3.03%
Transactions in own shares 
During the year 38,000 (2014: 40,250) own shares held in 
treasury at a carrying value of 49.5p each were issued following 
the exercise of share options by employees for which a net total 
of £23,820 (2014: £20,869) was received.
Employee involvement
The Group regularly communicates with all staff providing 
information on developments within the Group including 
updates on the Group’s strategy and details of new products 
and services provided by the Group.
Staff are eligible to receive share options in the company under 
the Group’s share incentive schemes and it is the board’s policy 
to make specific awards as appropriate to attract and retain the 
best available people.
Employment of disabled persons
Full and fair consideration is given to applications for employment 
made by disabled persons having regard to their particular 
aptitudes and abilities.  Appropriate training is arranged for 
disabled persons, including retraining for alternative work of 
employees who become disabled, to promote their career 
development within the organisation.
Website disclaimer
The maintenance and integrity of the iomart Group plc website 
is the responsibility of the directors. The work carried out by 
the auditors does not involve consideration of these matters 
and, accordingly, the auditors accept no responsibility for any 
changes that may have occurred to the financial statements since 
they were initially presented on the website. Legislation in the 
United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination 
of the financial statements may differ from legislation in other 
jurisdictions.
Auditors
Grant Thornton UK LLP have expressed their willingness to 
continue in office as auditors and a resolution to reappoint them 
will be proposed at the forthcoming annual general meeting.
By order of the board
Bruce Hall 
Company secretary
8 June 2015
 
Directors' Report
33 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
The directors are responsible for preparing the Strategic Report 
and Directors’ Report, and the Group and Parent Company 
financial statements in accordance with applicable law and 
regulations.
Company law requires the directors to prepare financial 
statements for each financial year. Under that law the directors 
have to prepare the financial statements in accordance with 
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as adopted 
by the European Union. Under company law the directors must 
not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied 
that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs and profit 
or loss of the Company and Group for that period. In preparing 
these financial statements, the directors are required to:
 • select suitable accounting policies and then apply them 
  consistently;
 • make judgements and accounting estimates that are 
  reasonable and prudent;
 • state whether applicable IFRSs have been followed for 
  the Group financial statements and whether United 
  Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United 
  Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable laws) have 
  been followed for the Parent Company financial 
  statements, subject to any material departures disclosed 
  and explained in the financial statements;
 • prepare the financial statements on the going concern 
  basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the 
  company will continue in business. 
The directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting 
records that are sufficient to show and explain the Group and 
Parent Company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable 
accuracy at any time the financial position of the Group and 
Parent Company and enable them to ensure that the Group 
and Parent Company financial statements comply with the 
Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding 
the assets of the Group and Parent Company and hence for 
taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of 
fraud and other irregularities.
The directors confirm that: 
 • so far as each director is aware, there is no relevant audit 
  information of which the Group and Parent Company’s 
  auditor is unaware; and
 • the directors have taken all the steps that they ought to 
  have taken as directors in order to make themselves 
  aware of any relevant audit information and to establish 
  that the auditors are aware of that information.
The directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity 
of the corporate and financial information included on the 
Group's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing 
the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may 
differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. 
 
Directors' Responsibilities Statement
34 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
iomart supports the managed cloud requirements for all sized businesses at all 
stages in their development. Our private cloud is supporting Wakelet the new 
social sharing site backed by the original publishers of Angry Birds.
"This sort of collaboration is something start-ups just don't normally get with hosting 
providers at such an early stage. Essentially we've produced a beautiful piece of 
software and iomart has produced a beautiful platform on which it can flourish." 
Jamil Khalil, Founder, Wakelet   iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
We have audited the Group financial statements of iomart 
Group Plc for the year ended 31 March 2015 which comprise 
the consolidated statement of comprehensive income, the 
consolidated statement of financial position, the consolidated 
statement of cash flows, the consolidated statement of changes 
in equity and the related notes. The financial reporting framework 
that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and 
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as adopted 
by the European Union. 
This report is made solely to the company’s members, as a body, 
in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 
2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might 
state to the company’s members those matters we are required 
to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. 
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or 
assume responsibility to anyone other than the company and 
the company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this 
report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Respective responsibilities of directors and auditor
As explained more fully in the Directors’ Responsibilities 
Statement, the directors are responsible for the preparation of 
the Group financial statements and for being satisfied that they 
give a true and fair view.  Our responsibility is to audit and express 
an opinion on the Group financial statements in accordance with 
applicable law and International Standards on Auditing (UK and 
Ireland). Those standards require us to comply with the Auditing 
Practices Board’s Ethical Standards for Auditors.
Scope of the audit of the financial statements
A description of the scope of an audit of financial statements is 
provided on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at www.frc.
org.uk/auditscopeukprivate.
Opinion on financial statements
In our opinion the Group financial statements:
 
 • give a true and fair view of the state of the Group's affairs 
  as at 31 March 2015 and of its profit for the year then 
  ended;
 • have been properly prepared in accordance with IFRSs as 
  adopted by the European Union; and 
 • have been prepared in accordance with the requirements 
  of the Companies Act 2006.
Opinion on other matter prescribed by the Companies Act 
2006
In our opinion the information given in the Strategic Report 
and Directors’ Report for the financial year for which the Group 
financial statements are prepared is consistent with the Group 
financial statements.
Matters on which we are required to report by exception
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters 
where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, 
in our opinion:
 • certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified 
  by law are not made; or
 • we have not received all the information and explanations 
  we require for our audit.
Other matter
We have reported separately on the parent company financial 
statements of iomart Group plc for the year ended 31 March 
2015 and on the information in the Directors’ Remuneration 
Report that is described as having been audited.
Robert Hannah
Senior Statutory Auditor
for and on behalf of Grant Thornton UK LLP
Statutory Auditor, Chartered Accountants
Glasgow
8 June 2015
Independent auditor's report to the members of iomart Group plc
36
Financial Statements iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
 Note 2015 2014
   £’000 £’000
Revenue  65,797 55,618
    
 
Cost of sales 4 (21,477) (17,794)
   
Gross profit  44,320  37,824 
    
Administrative expenses 4 (32,121) (26,767)
 
Operating profit  12,199 11,057
    
 
Analysed as:    
   
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, 
amortisation, acquisition costs and share based payments  29,053 23,611
Share based payments 27 (809) (1,257)
Acquisition costs 6 (526) (374)
Depreciation 4 (10,142) (7,170)
Amortisation – acquired intangible assets 4 (4,368) (3,093)
Amortisation – other intangible assets 4 (1,009) (660)
    
 
Finance income 7 45 68
Finance costs 7 (1,459) (1,410)
    
Profit before taxation  10,785 9,715
 
Taxation 9 (1,890) (1,995)
 
Profit for the year attributable to equity holders of the parent  8,895 7,720
    
 
Other comprehensive income    
   
Amounts which may be reclassified to profit or loss   
Currency translation differences  (49) 3
Other comprehensive income for the year  (49) 3
 
Total comprehensive income for the year 
attributable to equity holders of the parent  8,846         7,723 
   
    
 
Basic and diluted earnings per share    
 
Total operations    
 
Basic earnings per share 12 8.34 p 7.30 p
Diluted earnings per share 12 8.24 p 7.23 p
The following notes form part of the primary financial statements. 
Consolidated statement of comprehensive income. Year ended 31March 2015
37 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
  2015 2014
 Note £’000 £’000
ASSETS    
 
Non-current assets   
Intangible assets – goodwill 13 47,342 44,879
Intangible assets – other 13 19,041 19,488
Lease deposits 14 2,416 2,416
Property, plant and equipment 16 34,846 32,533
  103,645 99,316
Current assets    
Cash and cash equivalents 18 8,347 13,025
Trade and other receivables 17 11,389 7,696
       
  19,736 20,721
   
Total assets  123,381 120,037
    
LIABILITIES     
Non-current liabilities    
Non-current borrowings 22 (1,346) (13,716)
Trade and other payables 20 (703) -
Provisions  23 (2,440) (1,566)
Deferred tax 10 (2,087) (2,443)
     (6,576) (17,725)
Current liabilities   
Contingent consideration due on acquisitions 21 (1,650) (1,271)
Trade and other payables 19 (18,680) (15,158)
Current income tax liabilities  (1,401) (1,868)
Current borrowings 22 (22,395) (19,128)
  (44,126) (37,425)
 
Total liabilities  (50,702) (55,150)
 
Net assets  72,679 64,887
    
EQUITY   
Share capital 25 1,078 1,078
Own shares 26 (538) (556)
Capital redemption reserve  1,200 1,200
Share premium  21,067 21,067
Merger reserve  4,983 4,983
Foreign currency translation reserve  (47) 2
Retained earnings  44,936 37,113
 Total equity    72,679 64,887
These financial statements were approved by the board of directors and authorised for issue on 8 June 2015.
Signed on behalf of the board of directors
Angus MacSween
Director and chief executive officer
iomart Group plc – Company Number: SC204560
The following notes form part of the primary financial statements. 
Consolidated statement of financial position. As at 31March 2015
38 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
  2015 2014
 Note £’000 £’000
 
Profit before taxation   10,785 9,715
Finance costs – net 7 1,414 1,342
Depreciation 4 10,142 7,170
Amortisation 4 5,377 3,753
Share based payments 27 809 1,257
Movement in trade receivables  (3,277) 250
Movement in trade payables  1,956 503
Cash flow from operations  27,206 23,990
Taxation paid  (3,212) (2,277)
Net cash flow from operating activities  23,994 21,713
   
 
Cash flow from investing activities    
Purchase of property, plant and equipment 16 (10,683) (11,651)
Capitalisation of development costs 13 (1,041) (557)
Purchase of intangible assets 13 (367) (24)
Proceeds on disposal of property, plant and equipment  - 22
Payments for current period acquisitions net of cash acquired  (2,445) (19,016)
Contingent consideration paid on prior period acquisition  (1,271) (125)
Deferred consideration paid on prior period acquisition  - (201)
Finance income received  33 91
Net cash used in investing activities  (15,774) (31,461)
   
Cash flow from financing activities   
Issue of shares  13 154
Draw down of bank loans 22 13,500 37,500
Repayment of finance leases  (1,245) (1,384)
Repayment of bank loans 22 (22,000) (16,503)
Repayment of borrowings on acquisition of business  - (5,731)
Finance costs paid  (1,299) (1,172)
Dividends paid 8 (1,867) (1,483)
Net cash (used in)/received from financing activities  (12,898) 11,381 
   
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents  (4,678) 1,633
   
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year  13,025 11,392
   
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 18 8,347 13,025
   
The following notes form part of the primary financial statements. 
Consolidated statement of cash flows. Year ended 31March 2015
39 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
     Foreign
   Own Own currency Capital Share
  Share shares shares translation redemption premium Merger Retained
  capital EBT Treasury reserve reserve account reserve earnings Total
Changes in equity Note £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Balance at 1 April 2013  1,058  (70) (506) (1) 1,200  20,936  - 29,599 52,216
          
Profit in the year  - - - - - - - 7,720 7,720
Currency translation differences  - - - 3 - - - - 3
Total comprehensive income  - - - 3 - - - 7,720 7,723
          
Dividends – final (paid) 8 - - - - - - - (1,483) (1,483)
Share based payments  27 - - - - - - - 1,257 1,257
Deferred tax on share based 
payments  - - - - - - - 19 19
Issue of own shares for option 
redemption 26 - - 20 - - - - 1 21
Issue of new shares for option 
redemption 25 3 - - - - 131 - - 134
Issue of new shares for business 
acquisition 25 17 - - - - - 4,983 - 5,000
Total transactions with owners  20 - 20 - - 131 4,983 (206) 4,948
          
Balance at 31 March 2014  1,078  (70) (486) 2 1,200  21,067  4,983 37,113 64,887
          
          
Profit in the year  - - - - - - - 8,895 8,895
Currency translation differences  - - - (49) - - - - (49)
Total comprehensive income  - - - (49) - - - 8,895 8,846
          
Dividends – final (paid) 8 - - - - - - - (1,867) (1,867)
Share based payments  27 - - - - - - - 809 809
Deferred tax on share based 
payments 10 - - - - - - - (19) (19)
Issue of own shares for option 
redemption 26 - - 18 - - - - 5 23
Total transactions with owners  - - 18 - - - - (1,072) (1,054)
          
          
Balance at 31 March 2015  1,078  (70) (468) (47) 1,200  21,067  4,983 44,936 72,679
The following notes form part of the primary financial statements. 
Consolidated statement of changes in equity. Year ended 31March 2015
40 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
iomart has been selected as a Tier 1 partner in the Microsoft 
Cloud Solution Provider Program.
 “The Cloud Solution Provider Program puts our partners at the 
centre of the customer relationship. Through participation these 
partners have demonstrated dedication to helping our mutual 
customers successfully move to the cloud.” 
Phil Sorgen, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner 
Group at Microsoft Corp. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
1. GENERAL INFORMATION
iomart Group plc is a company incorporated and domiciled in the 
United Kingdom under the Companies Act 2006. The address 
of the registered office is given on page 85 of this report. The 
nature of the Group’s operations and its principal activities are 
set out in the Strategic Report and Directors’ Report.
The financial statements are presented in UK Pounds Sterling 
because that is the currency of the primary economic 
environment in which the Group operates.
2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of preparation
The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in 
accordance with applicable International Financial Reporting 
Standards (IFRS) as adopted by the EU and in accordance with 
the Companies Act 2006. The measurement bases and principal 
accounting policies of the Group are set out below. These 
policies have been consistently applied to all years presented 
unless otherwise stated.
Standards, amendments, and interpretations effective in 
year
There were no additional standards, amendments and 
interpretations that had a material impact on the Group’s 
financial statements during the year. The following standard, 
amendment and interpretation were effective in the year but 
had no material impact on the Group’s financial statements:
• IFRS 10 (May 2011) Consolidated Financial Statements  
 (effective 1 January 2014)
• IFRS 11 (May 2011) Joint Arrangements (effective 1 January 
 2014)
• IFRS 12 (May 2011, updated January 2012) Disclosures of 
 Interests in Other Entities (effective 1 January 2014)
• IAS 27 (revised May 2011) Separate Financial Statements 
 (effective 1 January 2014)
• IAS 28 (revised May 2011) Investments in Associates and 
 Joint Ventures (effective 1 January 2014).
• Amendments to IAS 32 (December 2011) Offsetting 
 Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities (effective 1 January 
 2014)
• Amendments to IAS 36 (May 2013) Recoverable Amount 
 Disclosures for Non-Financial Assets (effective 1 January 
 2014)
• Amendments to IAS 39 (June 2013) Novation of Derivatives 
 and Continuation of Hedge Accounting (effective 1 January 
 2014)
• Amendments to IFRS 10, 11 & 12 (June 2012) Transitional 
 Guidance (effective 1 January 2014)
• Amendments to IFRS 10,12 & 27 (October 2012) Investment 
 Entities (effective 1 January 2014)
New standards and interpretations of existing standards 
that are not yet effective and have not been adopted early 
by the Group
IFRS 15 presents new requirements for the recognition of 
revenue, replacing IAS 18 ‘Revenue’, IAS 11 ‘Construction 
Contracts’, and several revenue-related interpretations. The new 
standard establishes a control-based revenue recognition model 
and provides additional guidance in many areas not covered 
in detail under existing IFRSs, including how to account for 
arrangements with multiple performance obligations, variable 
pricing, customer refund rights, supplier repurchase options, 
and other common complexities. The Directors have not yet 
assessed what impact this standard will have on the Group’s 
revenue recognition policies, as full details of the standard are 
yet to be confirmed. As of April 2015, the IASB proposed to 
defer the effective date of this standard from 1 January 2017 to 
1 January 2018. In addition, as a revised exposure draft of the 
standard is yet to be released, combined with the fact that it is 
yet to be endorsed by the EU, the Directors are not in a position 
to make a reliable estimate of the impact this revised standard 
will have on the Group’s accounting policies.
In addition the following new amendments and interpretations 
of existing standards that are not yet effective and have not 
been adopted early by the Group are not expected to have 
any material impact on the Group’s consolidated financial 
statements: 
• Annual Improvements to IFRSs 2010 – 2012 cycle (effective 1 
 July 2014)
• Annual Improvements to IFRSs 2011 - 2013 cycle (effective 1 
 July 2014)
• Amendments to IAS 19 (November 2013) Defined Benefit 
 Plans: Employee Contributions (effective 1 July 2014)
• Amendments to IAS 38 (Issued May 2014) Intangible Assets 
 (effective 1 January 2016)
• IFRIC 21 (March 2013) Levies (effective 17 June 2014)
Summary of Accounting Policies
Basis of consolidation 
The Group financial statements consolidate those of the 
Company and all of its subsidiary undertakings drawn up to 31 
March 2015.  Under IFRS 10, control exists when an investor is 
exposed, or has rights, to variable returns from its involvement 
with the investee and has the ability to affect those returns 
through its power over the investee. As each of the divisions 
within the Group are 100% wholly owned subsidiaries, the 
Group has full control over each of its investees.
Unrealised gains on transactions between the Group and 
its subsidiaries are eliminated.  Unrealised losses are also 
eliminated unless the transaction provides evidence of an 
impairment of the asset transferred.  Amounts reported in the 
financial statements of subsidiaries have been adjusted where 
necessary to ensure consistency with the accounting policies 
adopted by the Group.
Acquisitions of subsidiaries are dealt with by the acquisition 
method. The acquisition method involves the recognition at fair 
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
42 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
value of all identifiable assets and liabilities, including contingent 
liabilities of the subsidiary, at the acquisition date, regardless of 
whether or not they were recorded in the financial statements 
of the subsidiary prior to acquisition.  On initial recognition, 
the assets and liabilities of the subsidiary are included in the 
statement of financial position at their fair values, which are also 
used as the bases for subsequent measurement in accordance 
with the Group accounting policies.
Where the Group’s assessment of the net fair value of a 
subsidiary’s identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed 
is less than the fair value of the consideration including 
contingent consideration of the business combination then the 
excess is treated as goodwill. Where the Group’s assessment 
of the net fair value of a subsidiary’s net assets and liabilities 
exceeds the fair value of the consideration including contingent 
consideration of the business combination then the excess is 
recognised through profit or loss immediately.
Revenue 
Revenue comprises the fair value of the consideration received 
or receivable for the sale of services in the ordinary course of 
the Group’s activities. Revenue is shown net of value-added tax, 
returns, rebates and discounts and after eliminating sales within 
the Group.
The Group recognises revenue when the amount of revenue 
can be reliably measured, it is probable that future economic 
benefits will flow from the transaction and specific criteria 
have been met for each of the Group’s activities as described 
below. The amount of revenue is not considered to be reliably 
measurable until all contingencies relating to the sale have been 
resolved. The Group bases its estimates on prior experience, 
taking into consideration the type of customer and the type of 
transaction.
 
Easyspace 
This operating segment provides domain name registration and 
hosting services.  Revenue from the provision of domain names 
is recognised at the point of sale when the title to the domain 
name passes to the customer.  Revenue from the provision of 
hosting services is recognised evenly over the period of the 
service and only after the service has been established.  Any 
unearned portion of revenue is included in payables as deferred 
revenue.
Hosting
This operating segment provides managed cloud computing 
facilities and services.  Revenue from the sale of facilities and 
services is spread evenly over the period of the agreement 
and only after the service has been established.  Any unearned 
portion of revenue is included in payables as deferred revenue. 
Interest
Interest is recognised on an accruals basis using the effective 
interest method.
Intangible assets
Goodwill
Goodwill arising on consolidation is capitalised on the 
consolidated statement of financial position and, subject to an 
annual impairment test, has an indefinite life. The carrying value 
of goodwill is cost less accumulated impairment losses and is 
allocated to cash generating units for the purpose of impairment 
testing. The allocation is made to those cash generating units 
that are expected to benefit from the business combination. 
Impairment reviews are carried out by the Board at least 
annually. Impairments to goodwill are charged to profit or loss 
in the period in which they arise.
Customer relationships
Customer relationships are recognised only on acquisition. 
The fair value is derived based on discounted cash flows from 
estimated recurring revenue streams. The carrying value is 
stated at fair value at acquisition less accumulated amortisation 
and impairment losses. The useful economic life is assessed for 
each acquisition separately. Amortisation is charged over the 
useful life of the relationships in proportion to the estimated 
future cash flows, a period which is generally between five and 
eight years.
Research and development
Expenditure on research (or the research phase of an internal 
project) is recognised as an expense in the period in which it is 
incurred. Development costs incurred are capitalised when all 
the following conditions are satisfied:
• completion of the intangible asset is technically feasible so 
 that it will be available for use or sale
• the Group intends to complete the intangible asset and use 
 or sell it
• the Group has the ability to use or sell the intangible asset
• the intangible asset will generate probable future economic 
 benefits
• there are adequate technical, financial and other resources 
 to complete the development and to use or sell the 
 intangible asset, and
• the expenditure attributable to the intangible asset during its 
 development can be measured reliably.
Development costs not meeting the criteria for capitalisation 
are expensed as incurred. The only development costs which 
are deemed to meet these criteria in the Group are in relation 
to developments by specific teams to develop products in the 
hosting asset management control system and internet security. 
Development costs capitalised are amortised on a straight-line 
basis over the estimated useful life of the asset. The estimated 
useful life is deemed to be three years for all developments 
capitalised. Amortisation charges are recognised through profit 
or loss in the period in which they are incurred.
Software
Software is recognised at cost on purchase and amortised on a 
straight-line basis over its useful economic life, which does not 
generally exceed five years.
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
43 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
 2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)
Acquisition costs 
In accordance with IFRS 3 Business Combinations, costs 
incurred on professional fees during an acquisition are not 
included in the overall cost of the investment in the acquired 
business. Consequently, these acquisition costs are included 
as Administrative Expenses in the Consolidated Statement of 
Comprehensive Income. In addition, the costs associated with 
integrating the acquired businesses into the Group are also 
included in this category. The combination of both these types 
of expenses is also shown in the Consolidated Statement of 
Comprehensive Income as acquisition costs.
Non-Statutory Profit Measures
In addition to measuring financial performance of the Group 
based on statutory profit measures, the Group also measures 
performance based on adjusted EBITDA and adjusted profit 
before tax.
Adjusted EBITDA 
Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, tax, 
depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before share based 
payment charges and acquisition costs. Adjusted EBITDA is a 
common measure used by investors and analysts to evaluate 
the operating financial performance of companies, particularly 
in the sector that the Group operates.
The Group considers adjusted EBITDA to be a useful measure of 
operating performance because it approximates the underlying 
operating cash flow by eliminating the charges mentioned 
above. It is not a direct measure of liquidity, which is shown in 
the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, and needs to be 
considered in the context of the Group’s financial commitments.
Adjusted Profit before Tax
Adjusted profit before tax is defined as profit before tax, 
amortisation charges on acquired intangible assets, share based 
payment charges, mark to market adjustments in respect of 
interest rate swaps, the accelerated write off of arrangement 
fees on the bank borrowing facilities which were repaid early in 
the previous year and acquisition costs. Adjusted profit before 
tax is a common measure used by investors and analysts to 
evaluate the financial performance of companies, particularly in 
the sector that the Group operates, where M&A activity forms a 
significant part their activities.
The Group considers adjusted profit before tax to be a useful 
measure of performance because it eliminates the impact of 
certain items associated with acquisitions and other charges 
commonly excluded from profit before tax by investors and 
analysts for valuation purposes.
Contingent consideration 
Where an acquisition involves a potential payment of contingent 
consideration the estimate of any such payment is based on its 
fair value. To estimate the fair value an assessment is made as 
to the amount of contingent consideration which is likely to be 
paid having regard to the criteria on which any sum due will be 
calculated and is probability based to reflect the likelihood of 
different amounts being paid. Where a change is made to the fair 
value of contingent consideration within the initial measurement 
period as a result of additional information obtained on facts and 
circumstances that existed at the acquisition date then this is 
accounted for as a change in goodwill. Where changes are made 
to the fair value of contingent consideration as a result of events 
that occurred after the acquisition date then the adjustment is 
accounted for as a charge or credit to profit or loss.
Property, plant and equipment
Property, plant and equipment is stated at cost net of 
depreciation and any provision for impairment. Leasehold 
property is included in property, plant and equipment only 
where it is held under a finance lease.  
Disposal of assets
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined 
as the difference between the disposal proceeds and the 
carrying amount of the asset and is recognised in profit or loss.  
Depreciation
Depreciation is calculated to write down the cost of all property, 
plant and equipment to the expected residual value by equal 
annual instalments over their estimated useful economic lives.  
All items of plant and equipment have immaterial residual 
values.  The rates generally applicable are:
Freehold property Between 2.00% and 3.33% per  
 annum
Leasehold improvements Between 6% and 10% per annum
Computer equipment Between 20% and 50% per annum
Office equipment Between 10% and 25% per annum
Datacentre equipment Between 6% and 10% per annum
Motor vehicles 25% per annum
Land Not depreciated
Impairment testing of goodwill, other intangible assets and 
property, plant and equipment
For the purposes of assessing impairment, assets are grouped 
at the lowest levels for which there are separately identifiable 
cash flows (cash-generating units).  As a result, some assets 
are tested individually for impairment and some are tested at 
cash-generating unit level.  Goodwill is allocated to those cash-
generating units that are expected to benefit from synergies of 
the related business combination and represent the lowest level 
within the Group at which management monitors goodwill.
Goodwill, other individual assets or cash-generating units that 
include goodwill, and those intangible assets not yet available 
for use are tested for impairment at least annually.  All 
other individual assets or cash-generating units are tested for 
impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances 
indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable.
An impairment loss is recognised for the amount by which the 
asset’s or cash-generating unit’s carrying amount exceeds its 
recoverable amount.  The recoverable amount is the higher 
of fair value, reflecting market conditions less costs to sell, 
and value in use based on an internal discounted cash flow 
evaluation. Management estimate expected future cash flows 
from each cash generating unit and determines a suitable 
interest rate to determine the present value of the future cash 
flows. Discount factors are determined for each cash generating 
unit to reflect the underlying risks involved. The future cash flows 
used in the calculation are based on the Group’s latest approved 
budget.
Impairment losses recognised for cash-generating units, to 
which goodwill has been allocated, are credited initially to the 
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
44 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
carrying amount of goodwill.  Any remaining impairment loss 
is charged pro rata to the other assets in the cash generating 
unit.  With the exception of goodwill, all assets are subsequently 
reassessed for indications that an impairment loss previously 
recognised may no longer exist.
Details of the key assumptions and judgements are shown in 
note 13.
Leased assets 
In accordance with IAS 17 Leases, the economic ownership 
of a leased asset is deemed to have been transferred to the 
Group (the lessee) if the Group bears substantially all the risks 
and rewards related to the ownership of the leased asset.  The 
related asset is recognised at the time of inception of the lease 
at the fair value of the leased asset or, if lower, the present 
value of the minimum lease payments plus incidental payments, 
if any, to be borne by the lessee.  A corresponding amount is 
recognised as a finance lease liability.  
The interest element of leasing payments represents a constant 
proportion of the capital balance outstanding and is charged to 
profit or loss over the period of the lease.  
All other leases are regarded as operating leases and the 
payments made under them are charged to profit or loss on 
a straight line basis over the lease term.  Lease incentives are 
spread over the term of the lease. Where a lease is for land and 
buildings, these are considered separately as to whether there 
is a finance lease within the lease.
Lease deposits 
Rental and re-instatement deposits for leasehold premises are 
included in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position as 
either non-current assets or current assets depending on the 
length of time to maturity. Where lease deposits are interest 
earning the amount of deposit is not discounted and where they 
are not interest earning they are discounted at an appropriate 
rate.
 
Borrowings
Borrowings are initially stated at fair value after deduction 
of any issue costs. The carrying amount is increased by the 
finance costs in respect of the accounting period and reduced 
by payments made in the period. Borrowings are subsequently 
stated at amortised cost, any difference between the periods 
(net of transaction costs) and the redemption value is recognised 
through profit or loss over the period of the borrowings using 
the effective interest method.  Where borrowings are repaid 
early and new loan facilities agreed the terms of each loan 
facility are compared. Where the terms of the new borrowings 
are significantly different from those of the previous borrowings, 
the previous borrowings are treated as extinguished rather than 
modified as prescribed under IAS 39.
Reinstatement costs 
The Group has made alterations to properties which it occupies 
under lease arrangements. These lease arrangements contain 
provision for reinstatement of the property to its original 
condition at the Group’s cost at the end of the lease should the 
landlord require that to happen. In respect of property leases 
which contain such a reinstatement provision the estimated 
cost of the reinstatement is provided in the financial statements. 
The discounted value of the expected cost of reinstatement is 
recorded as a leasehold improvement within property, plant 
and equipment and is then depreciated over the remaining 
term of the lease. A matching provision is recognised at the 
same time which is increased over the period of the lease by 
way of an interest charge such that the estimated cost of the 
reinstatement has been fully provided at the end of the lease 
period.
Provisions
Provisions are recognised when the Group has a present legal or 
constructive obligation as a result of a past events, it is probable 
that an outflow of resources will be required to settle the 
obligation, and the amount can be reliably estimated. Provisions 
are measured at the present value of the expenditures expected 
to be required to settle the obligation using a pre-tax rate 
that reflects current market assessments of the time value of 
money and the risks specific to the obligation. The increase in 
the provision due to passage of time is recognised as interest 
expense.
Income taxes
The tax expense recognised in profit or loss comprises the 
sum of deferred tax and current tax not recognised in other 
comprehensive income or directly in equity.
Current tax is the tax currently payable based on taxable 
profit for the year. Deferred income taxes are calculated using 
the liability method on temporary differences. Deferred tax 
is generally provided on the difference between the carrying 
amounts of assets and liabilities and their tax bases.  However, 
deferred tax is not provided on the initial recognition of goodwill, 
nor on the initial recognition of an asset or liability unless the 
related transaction is a business combination or affects tax 
or accounting profit. Deferred tax on temporary differences 
associated with shares in subsidiaries is not provided if reversal 
of these temporary differences can be controlled by the Group 
and it is probable that reversal will not occur in the foreseeable 
future. In addition, tax losses available to be carried forward as 
well as other income tax credits to the Group are assessed for 
recognition as deferred tax assets.
Deferred tax liabilities are provided in full, with no discounting. 
Deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is 
probable that the underlying deductible temporary differences 
will be able to be offset against future taxable income. Current 
and deferred tax assets and liabilities are calculated at tax 
rates that are expected to apply to their respective period of 
realisation, provided they are enacted or substantively enacted 
at the period end.
Changes in deferred tax assets or liabilities are recognised as a 
component of tax expense in the Statement of Comprehensive 
Income, except where they relate to items that are recognised 
directly in other comprehensive income or equity (such as share 
based remuneration) in which case the related deferred tax 
is also recognised in other comprehensive income or equity 
accordingly.
 
Financial assets
All financial assets are recognised when the Group becomes a 
party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.  Financial 
assets other than those categorised as at fair value through 
profit or loss are recognised at fair value plus transaction costs 
on initial recognition.  Financial assets categorised as at fair value 
through profit or loss are recognised initially at fair value with 
transaction costs expensed through profit or loss.
All income and expenses relating to financial assets that are 
recognised in the statement of comprehensive income are 
presented within ‘finance costs’ or ‘finance income’ except for 
impairment of trade receivables which is presented within 
‘administrative expenses’.
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
45 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
 2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)
Loans and receivables are non-derivative financial assets with 
fixed or determinable payments that are not quoted in an active 
market.  Loans and receivables are measured subsequent to 
initial recognition at amortised cost using the effective interest 
method, less provision for impairment.  Discounting is omitted 
where the effect of discounting is immaterial. The Group’s cash 
and cash equivalents, trade and most other receivables fall into 
this category of financial instruments.
Provision against trade and other receivables is made when 
there is objective evidence that the Group will not be able to 
collect all amounts due to it in accordance with the original 
terms of those receivables.  The amount of the write-down 
is determined as the difference between the asset’s carrying 
amount and the present value of estimated future cash flows. 
An assessment for impairment is undertaken at least at each 
reporting date.
Financial derivatives such as forward foreign exchange contracts 
and interest rate swaps are carried at fair value through profit or 
loss subsequent to initial recognition.
Financial liabilities
Financial liabilities are obligations to pay cash or other financial 
assets and are recognised when the Group becomes a party 
to the contractual provisions of the instrument.  Financial 
liabilities categorised as at fair value through profit or loss are 
recorded initially at fair value, all transaction costs are recognised 
immediately in profit or loss.  All other financial liabilities are 
recorded initially at fair value, net of direct issue costs.
Financial liabilities categorised as at fair value through profit 
or loss are re-measured at each reporting date at fair value, 
with changes in fair value being recognised through profit or 
loss.  All other financial liabilities are recorded at amortised 
cost using the effective interest method, with interest-related 
charges recognised as an expense in finance costs through 
profit or loss.  A financial liability is derecognised only when 
the obligation is extinguished, that is, when the obligation is 
discharged, cancelled or when it expires. Finance charges, 
including premiums payable on settlement or redemption and 
direct issue costs, are charged to profit or loss on an accruals 
basis using the effective interest method and are added to the 
carrying amount of the instrument to the extent that they are 
not settled in the period in which they arise.
Foreign currency transactions
Transactions denominated in foreign currencies are recorded at 
the rate ruling at the date of the transaction. Monetary assets 
and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies at the period 
end are retranslated at the rates ruling at that date. Any gains 
or losses arising on assets and liabilities between the date 
of recording and the date of settlement are treated as gains 
or losses through profit or loss. Forward foreign exchange 
contracts used to hedge the Group’s exposure to foreign 
currency transactions are fair valued at the balance date and the 
gain or loss is recognised through profit or loss for the period.
The results and financial position of all Group entities that have a 
functional currency different from the presentation currency are 
translated into the presentation currency as follows:
• assets and liabilities for each statement of financial position 
 presented are translated at the closing rate at the date of the 
 statement of financial position;
• income and expenses for each income statement are 
 translated at average exchange rates; and
• all resulting exchange differences are recognised as a 
 separate component of equity in the foreign currency 
 translation reserve.
Cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand and 
demand deposits, together with other short-term, highly liquid 
investments that are readily convertible into known amounts of 
cash and which are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in 
value.
Dividends
Dividend distributions payable to equity shareholders are 
included in the financial statements within ‘other short term 
financial liabilities’ when a final dividend is approved in a general 
meeting.  Interim dividend distributions to equity shareholders 
approved by the Board are not included in the financial 
statements until paid.
Equity
Equity comprises the following:
• “Share capital” represents the nominal value of equity  
 shares.
• “Own shares Treasury” represents the amount of the  
 Company’s own equity shares, plus attributable transaction 
 costs, that is held by the Company as treasury shares.
• “Own shares EBT” represents the amount of the Company’s 
 own equity shares, plus attributable transaction costs, that 
 is held by the Company within the iomart Group plc 
 Employee Benefit Trust. 
• “Share premium” represents the excess over nominal value 
 of the fair value of consideration received for equity shares, 
 net of expenses of the share issue.
• “Merger reserve” represents the excess over nominal value 
 of the fair value of consideration received for equity shares, 
 net of expenses of the share issue, when ordinary share 
 capital is included in the consideration for business 
 acquisitions.
• “Capital redemption reserve” represents set aside reserves 
 in relation to previous redemption of own shares.
• “Foreign currency translation reserve” represents all 
 exchange differences on the translation of the results 
 and financial position of Group entities that have a functional 
 currency different from the presentation currency.
• “Retained earnings” represents retained profits.
Employee benefits - pensions
The Group contributes to an auto-enrolment pension scheme 
and also to a number of personal pension schemes on behalf of 
executive directors and some senior employees.  The pension 
costs charged against operating profit are the contributions 
payable to the schemes in respect of the accounting period.
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
46 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Share-based payment 
The Group operates equity-settled share-based remuneration 
plans for its employees. All goods and services received in 
exchange for the grant of any share-based payment are 
measured at their fair values.  Where employees are rewarded 
using share-based payments, the fair values of employees’ 
services are determined indirectly by reference to the fair value 
of the instrument granted to the employee. This fair value is 
appraised at the grant date and excludes the impact of non-
market vesting conditions (for example, profitability and sales 
growth targets).
All share-based remuneration plans are ultimately recognised as 
an expense through profit or loss with a corresponding credit to 
‘retained earnings’.  
If vesting periods or other non-market vesting conditions apply, 
the expense is allocated over the vesting period, based on 
the best available estimate of the number of share options 
expected to vest.   Estimates are subsequently revised if there 
is any indication that the number of share based incentives 
expected to vest differs from previous estimates. The two main 
vesting conditions that apply to share options relate to the 
achievement of annual objectives and continuous employment. 
Any cumulative adjustment prior to vesting is recognised in 
the current period.  No adjustment is made to any expense 
recognised in prior periods if share based incentives ultimately 
exercised are different to that estimated on vesting.
Upon exercise of share based incentives the proceeds received 
net of attributable transaction costs are credited to share 
capital, and where appropriate share premium.
Segmental reporting
The Group provides segmental reporting on a basis consistent 
with the provision of internal financial information used for 
decision making purposes by the Chief Operating Decision 
Maker. Internal reports are produced on a basis consistent 
with the accounting policies adopted in the Group’s financial 
statements.
The Group calculates geographical information on the basis of 
the location of the customer.
Going concern
The Group’s business activities, together with the factors likely 
to affect its future development, performance and position 
are set out in the Strategic Report on pages 13 to 20. The 
financial position of the Group, its cash flows, liquidity position 
and borrowing facilities are described in the Finance Director’s 
Report on pages 16 to 18. 
In addition, Note 30 to the financial statements include the 
Group’s objectives, policies and processes for managing its 
capital; its financial risk management objectives; details of its 
financial instruments and hedging activities; and its exposures to 
credit risk and liquidity risk. As described in note 22 the Group 
has a £35m revolving credit facility  with Lloyds Banking Group 
of which £21.5m is drawn down at the year end. The net debt 
balances at the end of the period stood at £15.4m (2014: £19.8m) 
a level which the Board is comfortable with given the strong cash 
generation of the Group The Group has considerable financial 
resources together with long-term contracts with a number 
of customers and suppliers across different geographic areas 
and industries. As a consequence, the directors believe that the 
Group is well placed to manage its business risks.
The directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group has 
adequate resources to continue in operational existence for 
the foreseeable future. Thus they continue to adopt the going 
concern basis of accounting in preparing the annual financial 
statements.
Key judgements and sources of estimation uncertainty
The key assumptions concerning the future, and other key 
sources of estimation uncertainty at the period end, that have a 
significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying 
amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year are 
discussed below.
Impairment of goodwill
The Group is required to make a judgment as to whether there 
is any impairment of goodwill. This requires an estimation of the 
value in use of the cash-generating units to which goodwill has 
been allocated. The value in use calculation requires the entity to 
estimate the future cash flows expected to arise from the cash-
generating unit and to select a suitable discount rate in order to 
calculate the present value. Full details of the assumptions used 
in the calculation are disclosed in note 13.
Valuation of intangible assets and fair value adjustments on 
acquisition
As the Group continues to implement its acquisition strategy 
there is a requirement to fair value the assets and liabilities of 
any business acquired during the year. The Group is required 
to make a judgment as to what intangible assets exist within 
the acquired business at the time of the acquisition. When 
reviewing the existence of intangible assets consideration has 
been given to potential intangible assets such as customer 
relationships and brand. The estimation of the valuation of 
customer relationships is based on the value in use calculation 
which requires estimates of the future cash flows expected to 
arise from the existing customer relationships over their useful 
life and to select a suitable discount rate in order to calculate 
the present value. Full details of the assumptions used in the 
calculation of intangible assets and fair value adjustments on 
the acquisitions that have occurred during the current year are 
disclosed in note 11.
Reinstatement provisions 
At the inception of the leases and annually thereafter, the 
Directors assess the cost of restoring leasehold premises to 
their original condition at the end of the lease. These estimates 
are based on information provided by external advisors, the 
initial cost of the leasehold improvements and inflation rates 
and discount rates until the end of the lease. The reinstatement 
provision required at the end of the current year is shown in 
note 23. 
Deferred tax
The Group has substantial tax losses available to offset future 
taxable profits. In assessing the amount of deferred tax to 
be recognised as an asset the Group has estimated future 
profitability of the relevant operating unit. The deferred tax asset 
in relation to tax losses is shown in note 10.
Contingent consideration
Where an acquisition involves a potential payment of contingent 
consideration the estimate of any such payment is based on its 
fair value. To estimate the fair value an assessment is made as 
to the amount of contingent consideration which is likely to be 
paid having regard to the criteria on which any sum due will be 
calculated and is probability based to reflect the likelihood of 
different amounts being paid. Full details of the assumptions 
adopted in such a calculation are shown in Note 11.
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
47 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
3. SEGMENTAL ANALYSIS
The chief operating decision-maker has been identified as the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of the Company. The Group has two 
operating segments and the CEO reviews the Group’s internal reporting which recognises these two segments in order to assess 
performance and to allocate resources. The Group has determined its reportable segments which are also its operating segments 
based on these reports.
The Group currently has two operating and reportable segments. 
 • Easyspace – this segment provides a range of shared hosting and domain registration services to micro and SME companies.
 • Hosting – this segment provides managed cloud computing facilities and services, through a network of owned datacentres, to 
  the larger SME and corporate markets. The segment uses several routes to market and provides managed hosting services 
  through iomart Hosting, RapidSwitch, Melbourne, iomart Cloud Services, Redstation and Backup Technology. ServerSpace was 
  acquired during the year and has been reported as part of the Hosting segment since acquisition.
Information regarding the operation of the reportable segments is included below. The CEO assesses the performance of the operating 
segments based on revenue and a measure of Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) before any 
allocation of Group overheads, charges for share based payments or costs associated with acquisitions. This segment EBITDA is used 
to measure performance as the CEO believes that such information is the most relevant in evaluating the results of the segment. 
The Group’s EBITDA for the year has been calculated after deducting Group overheads from the EBITDA of the two segments as 
reported internally. Group overheads include the cost of the Board, all the costs of running the premises in Glasgow, the Group 
marketing, human resource, finance and design functions and legal and professional fees.
The segment information is prepared using accounting policies consistent with those of the Group as a whole.  
The assets and liabilities of the Group are not reviewed by the chief operating decision-maker on a segment basis. Therefore none of 
the Group’s assets and liabilities are segmental assets and liabilities and are all unallocated for segmental disclosure purposes. For that 
reason the Group has not disclosed details of segmental assets and liabilities.
All segments are continuing operations. No customer accounts for 10% or more of external revenues. Inter-segment transactions are 
accounted for using an arms-length commercial basis.
Operating Segments
Revenue by Operating Segment
 2015 2014
 External Internal Total External Internal Total
 £’000 £’000 £’000  £’000   £’000  £’000
Easyspace 10,782 - 10,782 10,959 - 10,959
Hosting 55,015 950 55,965 44,659 932 45,591
 65,797 950 66,747 55,618 932 56,550
Geographical Information
In presenting the consolidated information on a geographical basis, revenue is based on the geographical location of customers. The 
United Kingdom is the place of domicile of the parent company, iomart Group plc. 
Analysis of Revenue by Destination
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
United Kingdom 54,253 48,005
Rest of the World 11,544 7,613
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
48 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Revenue from operations 65,797 55,618
3. SEGMENTAL ANALYSIS (CONTINUED)
Profit by Operating Segment
 2015 2014
  Depreciation,   Depreciation,
 EBITDA before amortisation,  EBITDA before amortisation,
 acquisition acquisition  acquisition acquisition
 costs and share costs and  costs and share costs and
 based share based Operating based share based Operating
 payments  payments profit/(loss) payments payments profit/(loss)
 £’000 £’000 £’000  £’000  £’000 £’000
Easyspace 4,905 (416) 4,489 4,953 (605) 4,348
Hosting 27,481 (15,103) 12,378 21,700 (10,318) 11,382
Group overheads (3,333) - (3,333) (3,042) - (3,042)
Acquisition costs - (526) (526) - (374) (374)
Share based payments - (809) (809) - (1,257) (1,257)
Profit before tax and interest 29,053 (16,854) 12,199 23,611 (12,554) 11,057
Group interest and tax   (3,304)   (3,337)
Profit for the year 29,053 (16,854) 8,895 23,611 (12,554) 7,720
Group overheads, acquisition costs, share based payments, interest and tax are not allocated to segments.
4. OPERATING PROFIT
The profit for the year from total operations is stated after charging the following operating costs:
  2015  2014 
  £’000   £’000 
Staff costs excluding development costs capitalised and research 
and development costs written off the statement of comprehensive income  13,220 13,046
Depreciation of property plant and equipment   
 - Owned assets 9,162 6,191
 - Leased assets 980 979
Property, plant and equipment hire  
 - Land and buildings 2,433 2,139
 - Plant and machinery 97 366
Amortisation of intangible assets   
 - Acquired intangible assets 4,368 3,093
 - Other intangible assets 1,009 660
R&D expensed to statement of comprehensive income 476 132
Marketing and sales 1,101 597
Bad debt expense 46 350
Premises and office  5,088 4,597
Included within other expenses are fees paid to the Group’s auditors, an analysis of which is provided below:
Auditors’ remuneration  2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Audit services:  
- Fees payable for the audit of the consolidation and the parent company accounts 40 38
- Fees payable for audit of subsidiaries, pursuant to legislation 58 55
   
Non-audit services:  
- Assurance service fees 13 12
- Tax compliance fees 31 25
- Corporate finance and advisory transactions 25 4
   
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
49 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
 167 134
5. INFORMATION REGARDING DIRECTORS AND EMPLOYEES
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Directors’ emoluments  
Aggregate emoluments 1,248 1,270
Pension contributions to personal money purchase schemes 35 60
Share based payments 665 1,035
  
Emoluments payable to the highest paid director are as follows:  
Aggregate emoluments 517 532
Pension contributions to personal money purchase schemes - 27
  
During the year the Company made personal pension contributions to the personal pension schemes of 2 directors (2014: 3).
The aggregate amount of gains realised by directors on the exercise of share options during the year was £nil (2014: £nil).
The detailed numerical analysis of directors’ remuneration and share options is included in the Report of the Board to the Members 
on Directors’ Remuneration on pages 29 to 31.
 2015 2014
 No. No.
Average number of persons employed by the Group (including directors):  
Technical 159 136
Customer services 44 53
Sales and marketing 81 79
Administration 50 25
 334 293
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Staff costs of the Group during the year in respect of employees and directors were: 
Wages and salaries 12,464 11,178
Social security costs 1,336 1,182
Pension costs 128 118
Share based payments 809 1,257
 14,737 13,735
  
The Group operates a stakeholder pension scheme and also contributes to a number of personal pension schemes on behalf of 
executive directors and some senior employees.  In the case of executive directors, details of the pension arrangements are given 
within the Report of the Board to the Members on Directors’ Remuneration on pages 29 to 31. In the case of senior employees, pension 
contributions to individuals’ personal pension arrangements are payable by the Group at a rate equal to the contribution made by the 
senior employee subject to a maximum employer contribution of 5% of basic salary. 
6. ACQUISITION COSTS
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
 
Professional fees 150 374
Non-recurring integration costs 376 -
Total acquisition costs 526 374
During the year costs of £150,000 (2014: £374,000) were incurred in respect of professional fees on various acquisitions. In addition 
to these professional fees, one-off costs of £376,000 (2014: £nil) directly related to the integration of acquisitions into the Group were 
also incurred.
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
50 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
7. NET FINANCE COST
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Finance income:   
Bank interest receivable 33 56
Other interest income 12 12
Finance income for the year 45 68
   
  
Finance expenses:  
Bank loan  (965) (962)
Finance leases  (318) (235)
Other interest charges (51) (40)
Mark to market interest adjustment (125) (20)
Accelerated write off of arrangement fees on early repayment of facilities - (153)
Finance expense for the year (1,459) (1,410)
   
Net finance cost (1,414) (1,342)
Included in other interest income is £12,000 (2014: £12,000) in respect of leasehold deposits.
8. DIVIDENDS ON SHARES CLASSED AS EQUITY
 2015 2015 2014 2014
 Pence per   Pence per
 share £’000 share £’000
Paid during the year:    
    
Final dividend    
Equity dividends on ordinary shares 1.75p 1,867 1.40p 1,483
    
    
The directors have recommended a final dividend for the year ended 31 March 2015 of 2.50p per share (2014: 1.75p per share).  
Subject to shareholder approval this proposed final dividend would be payable on 1 September 2015 to shareholders on the register 
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
51 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
as of 14 August 2015.
9. TAXATION
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
   
 
Tax charge for the year (2,782) (3,002)
Adjustment relating to prior years 36 480
Total current taxation charge (2,746) (2,522)
   
 
Origination and reversal of temporary differences 871 486
Effect of different statutory tax rates of overseas jurisdictions 14 -
Effect of changes in tax rates (29) 41
Total deferred taxation credit 856 527
  
Total taxation charge (1,890) (1,995)
The Group has a deferred tax asset which has been recognised in respect of tax losses within one subsidiary company, which has 
generated taxable profits and is expected to continue to do so.
The differences between the total current tax shown above and the amount calculated by applying the standard rate of UK corporation 
tax to the profit before tax are as follows:
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Profit before tax 10,785 9,715
   
Tax charge @ 21% (2014 – 23%) 2,265 2,234
 
Expenses disallowed for tax purposes 71 263
Non-taxable income (6) -
Adjustments in respect of prior years (36) (480)
Effect of different statutory tax rates of overseas jurisdictions (14) -
Movement in deferred tax relating to changes in tax rates 29 (41)
Effect of research and development tax reliefs  (395) (350)
Tax effect of share based remuneration 155 142
Movement in unprovided deferred tax related to property, plant and equipment - 103
Movement in deferred tax relating to prior periods (179) 124
 
Taxation charge for the year 1,890 1,995
The weighted average applicable tax rate for the year ended 31 March 2015 was 21% (2014: 23%). The total current tax charge of 
£2,782,000 (2014: £3,002,000) on operations represents 25.8% (2014: 30.9%) of the Group profit before tax of £10,785,000 (2014: 
£9,715,000). A number of changes to the UK Corporation tax system were announced in the March 2014 Budget Statement with the 
main rate of corporation tax reduced from 21% to 20% from 1 April 2015. These changes were substantively enacted at the period end 
and therefore are included in these financial statements. 
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
52 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
10. DEFERRED TAX
The Group recognised deferred tax assets and liabilities as follows:
 2015 2014
 Deferred tax Deferred tax Deferred tax Deferred tax
 Recognised Unrecognised Recognised Unrecognised
 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
    
Tax losses carried forward 289 - 831 -
Share based remuneration 575 - 600 -
Capital allowances temporary differences 873 - 414 -
Deferred tax on acquired assets with no capital allowances (605) - (765) -
Deferred tax on customer relationships (3,219) - (3,523) -
Deferred tax liability (2,087) - (2,443) -
 
At the year end, the Group has unused tax losses of £1.2m (2014: £4.0m) available for offset against future profits. A deferred tax asset 
has been recognised in respect of all £1.2m (2014: £4.0m) of such losses as these losses are expected to be used up by taxable profits 
by the end of the period covered by future projections.
The movement in the deferred tax account during the year was: 
    Deferred tax
   Capital on acquired
 Tax losses   allowances assets with no 
 carried  Share based temporary capital Customer
 forward remuneration differences allowances relationships Total
 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
      
Balance at 1 April 2013 1,167 681 282 (949) (1,649) (468)
Acquired on acquisition of subsidiary - - 215 - (2,736) (2,521)
Credited to equity - 19 - - - 19
(Charged)/credited to statement of 
comprehensive income (222) (41) (64) 104 709 486
Effect of changes in tax rates (114) (59) (19) 80 153 41
Balance at 1 April 2014 831 600 414 (765) (3,523) (2,443)
Acquired on acquisition of subsidiary 89 - (13) - (557) (481)
Debited to equity - (19) - - - (19)
(Charged)/credited to statement of 
comprehensive income (673) 2 550 131 861 871
Effect of different tax rates of overseas 
jurisdictions 44 - (30) - - 14
Effect of changes in tax rates (2) (8) (48) 29 - (29)
Balance at 31 March 2015 289 575 873 (605) (3,219) (2,087)
The deferred tax asset in relation to tax losses carried forward arises from unutilised tax losses in the Hosting operating segment. The 
deferred tax asset has been recognised in line with future projections over the next year. The basis of these projections is:
 • The consistent success of the sales teams in generating new business
 • Expectations about the retention of customers
 • Continued success in achieving a particular product mix and maintaining price yield
Based on the current profitability of certain companies within the operating segments, an assessment of projections and the 
expectations of sustainable profits in future years, a deferred tax asset in relation to the utilisation of these losses is recognised in line 
with IAS 12 ‘Income Taxes’.
The deferred tax asset in relation to share based remuneration arises from the anticipated future tax relief on the exercise of share 
options. 
The deferred tax on capital allowances temporary differences arises mainly from plant and equipment in the Hosting segment where 
the tax written down value varies from the net book value.
The deferred tax on acquired assets arises from datacentre equipment acquired through the acquisition of iomart Datacentres Limited 
on which depreciation is charged but on which there are no capital allowances available.
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
53 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
The deferred tax on customer relationships arises from temporary differences on acquired intangible assets.
11. ACQUISITIONS
ServerSpace Limited
The Group acquired 100% of the issued share capital of ServerSpace Limited (“ServerSpace”) on 3 December 2014.
ServerSpace is a London based provider of managed hosting services to over 300 customers. The acquisition is in line with the Group’s 
strategy to grow its hosting operations both organically and by acquisition.
During the current period the Group incurred £116,000 of third party acquisition related costs in respect of this acquisition. These 
expenses are included in administrative expenses in the Group’s consolidated statement of comprehensive income for the period 
ended 31 March 2015.  
The following table summarises the consideration to acquire ServerSpace and the provisional amounts of identified assets acquired 
and liabilities assumed at the acquisition date:
  £’000
Recognised amounts of net assets acquired and liabilities assumed (provisional): 
Cash and cash equivalents 155
Trade and other receivables 376
Property, plant and equipment 453
Intangible assets 2,778
Trade and other payables (1,458)
Current borrowings (13)
Non-current borrowings (23)
Deferred tax liability (481)
Identifiable net assets 1,787
Goodwill 2,463
Total consideration 4,250
 
Satisfied by: 
Cash – paid on acquisition 2,600
Contingent consideration -  payable 1,650
Total consideration transferred 4,250
The recognised amounts of all the net assets acquired and liabilities assumed are provisional.
The share purchase agreement, in respect of the acquisition of ServerSpace, included a provision under which the total consideration 
payable may have been adjusted by a payment to be made either to or by the Company, depending on the level of cash, debt and 
working capital shown in an agreed set of accounts (the Completion Accounts) made up to, and as at, the completion date.   Following 
agreement of the Completion Accounts it was agreed by the Company and the former shareholders of ServerSpace that no payment 
was due either to or by the Company under the terms of this provision. The contingent consideration arrangements require the 
Company to pay the former shareholders of ServerSpace additional amounts contingent on the completion of the migration of existing 
customer services to an iomart datacentre (“the Migration Payment”) and on the level of profitability and the mix of revenue delivered 
by ServerSpace in the year ending 30 September 2015 (“the Earn-out Payment”). 
The potential undiscounted amount of the total payments that the Company could be required to make is between £nil and £1,650,000.  
The amount of contingent consideration payable which was recognised as of the acquisition date was £1,650,000. 
The amount of contingent consideration payable in respect of the Migration Payment is between £nil and £125,000 and the amount of 
contingent consideration payable in respect of the Earn-out Payment is between £nil and £1,650,000. The total contingent consideration 
payable in respect of the Migration payment and the Earn-out payment is restricted to £1,650,000 and, if the total of the two payments 
would exceed this amount, the Earn-out payment will be reduced by the amount required to reduce the total to £1,650,000.
The fair value of the Migration Payment has been calculated to be £119,000. This amount was calculated using a weighted average 
based on management estimates of the probability that the conditions required for the payment to be made will be met by the former 
shareholders of ServerSpace.
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
54 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
11. ACQUISITIONS (CONTINUED)
The fair value of the Earn-out Payment has been calculated to be £1,531,000. The Earn-out Payment is based on the absolute level 
of profitability achieved by ServerSpace in the year ending 30 September 2015, subject to reductions if either or both of the level of 
profitability in relation to revenue or the revenue mix is below specified limits. 
  
The absolute level of profitability was estimated by applying the income approach to different scenarios based on historic performance 
and forecasts. These scenarios had a range of outcomes for the amount of the Earn-out Payment of £1,157,000 to £1,650,000. A 
weighted average, based on management estimates of the probability of the achievement of the various levels of profitability, was 
then calculated to give the expected outcome of the amount of the Earn-out Payment, before any reduction in respect of the level of 
profitability in relation to revenue or the revenue mix, of £1,609,000.
The reductions to be applied to the Earn-out Payment in respect of each of the level of profitability in relation to revenue and the 
revenue mix were estimated by applying management estimates of the probability that the conditions required for the full payment to 
be made will not be met and calculating the weighted average outcome in each case.
The calculated reductions in the Earn-out Payment in respect of the level of profitability in relation to revenue and the revenue mix were 
then both applied to the expected outcome, before these adjustments, of £1,609,000, to give a net expected outcome of £1,573,000. As 
the total of the calculated Migration Payment and the Earn-out Payment exceeds the maximum contingent consideration of £1,650,000, 
the fair value of the Earn-out Payment has been reduced to £1,531,000.
The fair value of the contingent consideration is £1,650,000, being the total of the fair values of the Migration Payment of £119,000 
and the Earn-out Payment of £1,531,000.
The goodwill arising on the acquisition of ServerSpace is attributable to the premium payable for a pre-existing, well positioned 
business and the specialised, industry specific knowledge of the management and staff, together with the benefits to the Group in 
merging the business with its existing infrastructure and the anticipated future operating synergies from the combination.  The goodwill 
is not expected to be deductible for tax purposes.
The name ServerSpace is not actively advertised or promoted, with the majority of ServerSpace’s business being generated from 
existing customers or by word of mouth.  ServerSpace has given a commitment to customers not to use for any purpose, other than 
the service agreement, any confidential information received from the customer. As a consequence there is no significant value in 
either the trade name/brand or customer lists acquired at the acquisition date and therefore no value has been attributed to either 
intangible asset.
The fair value of the financial assets acquired includes trade receivables with a fair value of £263,000. The gross amount due under 
contracts is £293,000 of which £30,000 is expected to be uncollectable.
The fair value included in respect of the acquired customer relationships intangible asset is £2,778,000.
To estimate the fair value of the customer relationships intangible asset, a discounted cash flow method, specifically the income 
approach, was used with reference to the directors’ estimates of the level of revenue which will be generated from them. A post-tax 
discount rate of 11.4% was used for the valuation. Customer relationships are being amortised over an estimated useful life of 8 years. 
ServerSpace earned revenue of £1,003,375 and generated a loss before tax of £128,093 in the period since acquisition. 
Redstation Limited and Backup Technology Holdings Limited
The fair values of acquired assets and liabilities, including goodwill, previously disclosed as provisional for Redstation Limited and 
Backup Technology Holdings Limited have been finalised in the current period with no changes to the fair values disclosed in the Annual 
Report and Accounts 2014.
Pro-forma full year information
The following summary presents the Group as if the business acquired during the year had been acquired on 1 April 2014.  The 
amounts include the results of the acquired business, a charge for interest on the additional debt incurred to finance the acquisition 
and depreciation and amortisation of the acquired property, plant and equipment and intangible assets recognised on acquisition.  
The amounts do not include any possible synergies from the acquisition.  The information is provided for illustrative purposes only 
and does not necessarily reflect the actual results that would have occurred, nor is it necessarily indicative of the future results of the 
combined companies. 
 Pro-forma year ended 31 March 2015
 £’000
Revenue 67,721
 
Profit after tax for the year 8,207
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
55 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
12.EARNINGS PER ORDINARY SHARE
Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of 
ordinary shares in issue during the year, after deducting any own shares held by an Employee Benefit Trust in a Joint Share Ownership 
Plan (“JSOP”).  Diluted earnings per share is calculated by dividing the earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders by the total of the 
weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the year, after deducting any own shares (JSOP), and adjusting for the 
dilutive potential ordinary shares relating to share options, including the dilutive effect of JSOP shares that have vested.  
Total operations 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Profit for the financial year and basic earnings attributed to ordinary 
shareholders 8,895 7,720
   
 No No
Weighted average number of ordinary shares: 000 000
   
  
Called up, allotted and fully paid at start of year 107,803 105,760
Own shares held in Treasury (971) (1,016)
Shares held by Employee Benefit Trust (141) (141)
New shares issued during year  - 1,101
Weighted average number of ordinary shares - basic 106,691 105,704
   
Dilutive impact of share options 1,236 1,005
   
Weighted average number of ordinary shares - diluted 107,927 106,709
   
Basic earnings per share 8.34 p 7.30 p
Diluted earnings per share 8.24 p 7.23 p
Adjusted earnings per share 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
   
Profit for the financial year and basic earnings attributed to ordinary shareholders 8,895 7,720
- Amortisation of acquired intangible assets 4,368 3,093
- Acquisition costs 526 374
- Share based payments 809 1,257
- Mark to market interest adjustment 125 20
- Accelerated write off of arrangement fees - 153
- Tax impact of adjusted items (1,093) (1,039)
Adjusted profit for the financial year and adjusted earnings attributed 
to ordinary shareholders 13,630 11,578
   
  
Adjusted basic earnings per share 12.77 p 10.95 p
Adjusted diluted earnings per share 12.63 p 10.85 p
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
56 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
 
13. INTANGIBLE ASSETS 
 
         Domain       
   Development Customer  Beneficial names & IP
  Goodwill costs relationships Software contracts addresses Total
   £’000  £’000 £’000  £’000  £’000  £’000  £’000
Cost       
At 1 April 2013 31,781 2,111 9,644 600  86  31  44,253
Additions - - - 24 - - 24
Disposals - - - (15) - - (15)
Acquired on acquisition of subsidiary 13,098 - 13,335 1,048 - 249 27,730
Development cost capitalised - 557 - - - - 557
At 1 April 2014 44,879 2,668 22,979 1,657  86  280  72,549
Additions - - 598 435 - - 1,033
Currency translation differences - - 76 22 - - 98
Acquired on acquisition of subsidiary 2,463 - 2,778 - - - 5,241
Development cost capitalised - 1,041 - - - - 1,041
At 31 March 2015 47,342 3,709 26,431 2,114  86  280  79,962
       
Accumulated amortisation:       
At 1 April 2013 - (1,396)  (2,478)  (534)  (5) (31)  (4,444) 
Disposal - - - 15 - - 15
Charge for the year - (473) (3,086) (156) (7) (31) (3,753)
At 1 April 2014 - (1,869)  (5,564)  (675)  (12) (62)  (8,182) 
Currency translation differences - - (20) - - - (20)
Charge for the year - (627) (4,361) (328) (7) (54) (5,377)
At 31 March 2015 - (2,496)  (9,945)  (1,003)  (19) (116)  (13,579) 
       
Carrying amount:       
       
At 31 March 2015 47,342 1,213 16,486  1,111  67 164  66,383
       
At 31 March 2014 44,879 799 17,415  982  74 218  64,367
Of the total additions in the year of £1,033,000 (2014: £24,000), £182,000 (2014: £nil) were funded by finance leases, £484,000 (2014: 
£nil) was included in trade payables as unpaid invoices at the year end resulting in a net £484,000 (2014: £nil) movement in trade 
payables. Consequently, the consolidated statement of cash flows discloses a figure of £367,000 (2014: £24,000) as the cash outflow 
in respect of intangible asset additions in the year.
All amortisation and impairment charges are included in the depreciation, amortisation and impairment of non-financial assets 
classification, which is disclosed as administration expenses in the statement of comprehensive income. 
During the year, goodwill was reviewed for impairment in accordance with IAS 36 “Impairment of Assets”. No impairment charges (2014: 
£nil) arose as a result of this review. For this review goodwill was allocated to individual Cash Generating Units (CGU) on the basis of 
the Group’s operations. The goodwill acquired in the ServerSpace acquisition has been allocated to the Hosting CGU, as this is the CGU 
expected to benefit from the business combination. 
The carrying value of goodwill by each CGU is as follows: 
Cash Generating Units (CGU) 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Easyspace 17,137 17,137
Hosting 30,205 27,742
 47,342 44,879
The recoverable amount of a CGU is determined based on value-in-use calculations. These calculations use pre-tax cash flow 
projections based on financial budgets approved by the Board covering a two-year period. These projections are the result of detailed 
planning and assume similar levels of organic growth as the Group has experienced in the previous year unless there is a reason to 
alter historic growth rates and also full year contributions from acquisitions. 
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
57 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
13. INTANGIBLE ASSETS (CONTINUED)
The growth rates and margins used to extrapolate estimated future performance in the 3 years after the initial 2 year period continue 
to be based on past growth performance adjusted downwards to take into account the additional risk due to the passage of time. The 
growth rate does not exceed the long-term average growth rate for the business in which the CGU operates. The growth rates used to 
estimate future performance beyond the periods covered by the annual and strategic planning processes do not exceed the long-term 
average growth rates for similar products.
The assumptions used for the CGU included within the impairment reviews are as follows:
   
 Easyspace Hosting
Discount rate  10% 10%
Average growth rate in years 3 to 5 2.00% 3.50%
Future perpetuity rate  2.00% 2.00%
Initial period for which cash flows are estimated (years) 2 2
Based on an analysis of the impairment calculation’s sensitivities to changes in key parameters (growth rate, discount rate and pre-tax 
cash flow projections) there was no reasonably possible scenario where the CGU’s recoverable amount would fall below its carrying 
amount. 
14. LEASE DEPOSITS 
The lease deposits of £2,416,000 (2014: £2,416,000) are made up of a rental deposit of £784,000 (2014: £784,000) and a reinstatement 
deposit of £1,632,000 (2014: £1,632,000). The rental and reinstatement deposits are due to be repaid at the end of the lease which at 
the earliest is July 2020. 
The Group is due to receive interest on the lease deposit at the prevailing market rate and therefore has not been discounted. 
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
58 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
 
15. PRINCIPAL SUBSIDIARIES
The following subsidiaries have been consolidated in the Group financial statements:
 Ordinary share capital
    Owned by
 Country of   Owned by the subsidiary
 registration  company undertakings
 and operation Activity % %
iomart Limited  Scotland Dormant  100 -
iomart Hosting Limited  Scotland Managed hosting services 100 -
iomart Cloud Services Limited  Scotland Managed hosting services 100 -
EQSN Limited Scotland Non-trading 100 -
iomart Virtual Servers Hosting Limited  Scotland Dormant 100 -
Netintelligence Limited  Scotland Dormant 100 -
iomart Development Limited Scotland Dormant 100 -
iomart Cloud Inc       USA Managed hosting services 100 -
Easyspace Limited England Webservices 100 -
Open Minded Solutions Limited England Webservices 100 -
Backup Technology Holdings Limited England Non-trading 100 -
Backup Technology Limited England Non-trading - 100
Switch Media Limited England Webservices 100 -
Internet Engineering Limited England Webservices 100 -
Redstation Limited England Non-trading 100 -
My Documents Limited England Dormant 100 -
Switch Media (Ireland) Limited England Webservices - 100
Global Gold Network Limited England Webservices - 100
Global Gold Holdings Limited England Non-trading 100 -
Skymarket Limited England Non-trading 100 -
Rapidswitch Limited England Non-trading 100 -
Titan Internet Limited England Non-trading 100 -
Melbourne Server Hosting Limited England Managed hosting services 100 -
ServerSpace Limited England Managed hosting services 100 -
iomart Datacentres Limited  England Non-trading 100 -
Internetters Limited England Dormant - 100
NicNames Limited England Dormant - 100
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
59 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Web Genie Internet Limited England Non-trading - 100
16. PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
   Leasehold
  Freehold improve- Datacentre Computer Office Motor
  property ments equipment equipment equipment vehicles Total
  £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Cost:       
At 1 April 2013 837  5,180  11,215  17,138  1,251  43 35,664 
Additions in the year  - 1,195 5,305 6,290 249 - 13,039
Acquisition of subsidiaries 1,225 357 325 4,831 59 5 6,802
Disposals in the year - - - (192) - - (192)
At 31 March 2014 2,062  6,732  16,845  28,067  1,559  48 55,313 
Additions in the year  - 109 1,522 9,705 582 - 11,918
Acquisition of subsidiary - 16 - 434 3 - 453
Disposals in the year - - - (322) - - (322)
Currency translation differences - - - 94 - - 94
At 31 March 2015 2,062  6,857  18,367  37,978  2,144  48 67,456 
       
Accumulated depreciation:       
At 1 April 2013 (79) (1,097) (3,675) (10,218) (679) (32) (15,780)
Charge for the year (37) (321) (1,109) (5,535) (164) (4) (7,170)
Disposals in the year - - - 170 - - 170
At 31 March 2014 (116) (1,418) (4,784) (15,583) (843) (36) (22,780)
Charge for the year (34) (440) (1,469) (7,925) (269) (5) (10,142)
Disposals in the year - - - 322 - - 322
Currency translation differences - - - (10) - - (10)
At 31 March 2015 (150) (1,858) (6,253) (23,196) (1,112) (41) (32,610)
       
Carrying amount:       
At 31 March 2015 1,912 4,999  12,114  14,782  1,032 7 34,846 
            
At 31 March 2014 1,946 5,314  12,061  12,484  716 12 32,533 
The net book value of computer equipment held under finance lease at 31 March 2015 was £1,455,000 (2014: £1,839,000) and the net 
book value of datacentre equipment held under finance lease at 31 March 2015 was £617,000 (2014: £690,000).
Of the total additions in the year of £11,918,000 (2014: £13,039,000), £458,000 (2014: £894,000) were funded by finance leases, 
£2,354,000 (2014: £1,577,000) was included in trade payables as unpaid invoices at the year end resulting in a net £777,000 (2014: 
£65,000) movement in trade payables and £nil (2014: £429,000) related to non-cash reinstatement provisions. Consequently, the 
consolidated statement of cash flows discloses a figure of £10,683,000 (2014: £11,651,000) as the cash outflow in respect of property, 
plant and equipment additions in the year.
 
17. TRADE AND OTHER RECEIVABLES
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Trade receivables 5,588 3,939
Less: Provision for impairment (539) (686)
Trade receivables (net) 5,049 3,253
Other receivables 650 442
Prepayments and accrued income  5,690 4,001
Trade and other receivables    11,389 7,696
The carrying amount of trade and other receivables approximates to their fair value, which has been calculated based on expectations 
of debt recovery from historic performances feeding into impairment provision calculations. Some of the higher value trade receivables 
in the Hosting segment are reviewed individually for impairment and judgment made as to any likely impairment based on historic 
trends and the latest communication with specific customers. The balance of trade receivables in the Group are individually small in 
terms of value, so are considered for impairment by business unit specific provison calculations and are not individually impaired.
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
60 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
17. TRADE AND OTHER RECEIVABLES (CONTINUED)
To consider the total exposure to credit risks, the Group uses figures net of VAT. At 31 March 2015, £3,118,000 (2014: £2,116,000) of 
net trade receivables were fully performing. Net trade receivables of £1,931,000 (2014: £1,137,000) were past due, but not impaired. 
The credit quality of financial assets that are neither past due or impaired can be assessed by reference to the customer type. Trade 
receivables consist of a large number of customers in various industries and geographical areas. The Group is not exposed to any 
significant credit risk exposure to any single counterparty or any group of counterparties having similar characteristics. The aging below 
shows that almost all are less than three months old and historic performance indicates a high probability of payment for debts in this 
aging. Those over three months relate to customers without history of default for which there is a reasonable expectation of recovery.
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Up to 3 months 1,867 1,037
Over 3 months but less than 6 months 56 89
Over 6 months but less than 1 year 8 11
Total unimpaired trade receivables which are past due   1,931 1,137
The movement in the allowance for impairment in respect of trade receivables during the year was as follows:
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Balance at start of the year 686 376
(Decrease)/increase in provision for receivables impairment (177) 192
Fair value of trade receivable provision acquired during the year 30 118
Balance at end of year   539 686
18. CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
  
Cash at bank and on hand  8,347 13,025
Cash and cash equivalents 8,347 13,025
The credit risk on cash and cash equivalents is considered to be negligible because the counter parties are UK banking institutions. The 
effective interest rate earned on short term deposits was 0.50% (2014: 0.50%).
 
19. TRADE AND OTHER PAYABLES
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
   
Trade payables (4,186) (3,733)
Other taxation and social security (1,464) (1,360)
Accruals (6,587) (4,334)
Deferred income (5,475) (5,677)
Other creditors (968) (54)
Trade and other payables (18,680) (15,158)
The carrying amount of trade and other payables approximates to their fair value. Trade payables and accruals are non-interest bearing 
and generally mature within three months.  
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
61 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
20. NON-CURRENT TRADE AND OTHER PAYABLES
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
   
Trade payables  (703) -
Non-current trade and other payables (703) -
21. CONTINGENT CONSIDERATION
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
   
Contingent consideration due on acquisitions:   
 
- ServerSpace Limited (1,650) -
- Skymarket Limited - (32)
- Redstation Limited - (1,239)
 
Total contingent consideration due on acquisitions (1,650) (1,271)
 
22. BORROWINGS
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Current:  
Obligations under finance leases  (938) (1,038)
Bank loans (21,457) (18,090)
Current borrowings (22,395) (19,128)
 
Non-current:   
Obligations under finance leases  (1,346) (1,780)
Bank loans - (11,936)
Total non-current borrowings (1,346) (13,716)
  
Total borrowings (23,741) (32,844)
The carrying amount of borrowings approximates to their fair value.
The obligations under finance leases are secured by the related assets and are repayable as follows:
 2015 2014
  Capital Interest Total Capital Interest Total
  £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Due within one year 938 154 1,092 1,038 183 1,221
Due between two and five years 968 300 1,268 1,277 348 1,625
Due after more than five years 378 60 438 503 110 613
  2,284 514 2,798 2,818 641 3,459
The Group in its ordinary course of business enters into hire purchase and finance lease agreements to fund or re-finance the purchase 
of computer equipment and software. The lease agreements are typically for periods of 2 to 3 years and do not have contingent rent 
or escalation clauses. The agreements have industry standard terms and do not contain any restrictions on dividends, additional debt 
or further leasing.
The finance lease liability has an effective interest rate of 8.9% (2014: 8.4%). Lease payments are made on a monthly and quarterly 
basis. The future lease obligation of £2,798,000 (2014: £3,459,000) has a present value of £2,277,000 (2014: £2,710,000). 
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
62 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
22. BORROWINGS (CONTINUED)
On 28 July 2014 the Group agreed a new bank facility with Lloyds Banking Group comprising a £15m multi option revolving credit 
facility which together with the existing £20m multi option revolving credit facility provided £35m of total facilities. The new multi option 
revolving credit facility replaced a term loan facility of £15m.
At the beginning of the year under the previous facilities there was £15m outstanding on the multi option revolving credit facility and 
£15m outstanding on the term loan.  In April 2014, £1.5m was repaid on the term loan. Following the agreement of the new bank facility, 
the remaining £13.5m of the term loan was repaid in July 2014 and a draw down under the new multi option revolving credit facility of 
£13.5m was made. The repayment of the term loan has been treated as an extinguishment in accordance with IAS 39. This resulted in 
the total drawn down of multi option revolving credit facilities of £28.5m.
In September 2014, £3.5m and in March 2015, £3.5m were repaid on the new multi option revolving credit facility which left an 
outstanding balance at the year end of £21.5m.
The £35m multi option revolving credit facility may be used by the Group to finance acquisitions, capital expenditure and for the issue 
of guarantees, bonds or indemnities. The facility is available until October 2017 at which point any advances made under the revolving 
credit facility will become immediately repayable. In addition, each draw down made under this facility can be for either 3 or 6 months 
and can either be repaid or continued at the end of the period. As security for the loans, Lloyds Banking Group has the benefit of 
floating charges and debentures granted by group companies. Interest is charged on this loan at an annual rate determined by the sum 
of the term loan margin, LIBOR and the lender’s mandatory costs. The multi option credit facility margin is fixed at 2.0% per annum. 
A one-off arrangement fee of £337,500 was paid in respect of the £20m multi option revolving credit facility when the facility was first 
drawn down and a non-utilisation fee of 40% of the multi option revolving credit facility margin is due on any undrawn portion of the 
full £35m multi option revolving credit facilities. The effective interest rate for multi option revolving credit loans in the current year 
was 3.82% (2014: 4.41%).
 
The future loan obligations of £21,716,000 (2014: £32,865,000) equate to a present value of £21,269,000 (2014: £23,630,000). The 
capital element of the bank loans is £21,457,000 (2014: £30,026,000) and this differs from the net amount drawn down of £21,500,000 
(2014: £30,000,000) due to an effective interest rate adjustment.
The obligations under the multi option revolving credit facility and term loan facility are repayable as follows:
 2015 2014
 Capital Interest Total Capital Interest Total
 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Due within one year 21,457 259 21,716 18,090 1,104 19,194
Due between two and five years - - - 11,936 1,735 13,671
 21,457 259 21,716 30,026 2,839 32,865
    Finanace leases
 Cash and cash Bank Other and hire 
 equivalents loans loans purchase Total
Analysis of change in net cash/(debt) £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 
     
At 1 April 2013 11,392 (8,848) - (2,972) (428)
     
Repayment of bank loans - 16,500 - - 16,500
New bank loans - (37,500) - - (37,500)
Impact of effective interest rate - (174) - - (174)
Inception of finance leases - - - (896) (896)
Acquired on acquisition of subsidiary 1,355 (4) (5,731) (334) (4,714)
Cash flow 278 - 5,731 1,384 7,393
At 31 March 2014 13,025 (30,026) - (2,818) (19,819)
     
Repayment of bank loans - 22,000 - - 22,000
New bank loans - (13,500) - - (13,500)
Impact of effective interest rate - 69 - - 69
Inception of finance leases - - - (640) (640)
Acquired on acquisition of subsidiary 155 - - (36) 119
Currency translation differences - - - (35) (35)
Cash flow (4,833) - - 1,245 (3,588)
At 31 March 2015 8,347 (21,457) - (2,284) (15,394)
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
63 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
23. PROVISIONS 
The Group has made provision for the reinstatement of certain leasehold properties and after initial measurement, any subsequent 
adjustments to reinstatement provisions will be recorded against the original amount included in leasehold improvements with a 
corresponding adjustment to future depreciation charges.
Upon the acquisition of ServerSpace, the Group recognised an onerous lease provision for excess datacentre capacity based on the 
contracted future lease rental obligations relating to datacentre capacity that is no longer required.
The directors consider the carrying values of the provisions to approximate to their fair values as they have been discounted.
The movement in the provisions during the year was as follows:
 2015 2014
 Reinstatement Onerous Total Reinstatement Onerous Total
 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
  Balance at start of the year (1,566) - (1,566) (1,097) - (1,097)
  Initial recognition on acquisition of subsidiary - (583) (583) - - -
  Additional provision recognised during year - (376) (376) - - -
  Reduction in provision - 136 136 (429) - (429)
  Unwinding of discount (51) - (51) (40) - (40)
 (1,617) (823) (2,440) (1,566) - (1,566)
 
24. OPERATING LEASES
The Group has outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due 
as follows:
 2015 2014
 Land and   Land and
 buildings Other buildings Other 
 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Within one year 2,910 75 2,109 144
Between two to five years 7,288 286 7,272 193
After five years 3,222 279 4,560 237
 13,420 640 13,941 574
Lease terms for land and buildings
Operating leases do not contain any contingent rent clauses. None of the operating leases contain renewal of purchase options or 
escalation clauses or any restrictions regarding further leasing or additional debt. At 31 March 2015, the total future minimum sub-
lease payments expected to be received under non-cancellable sub-leases were £16,000 (2014: £72,000).
25. SHARE CAPITAL
 Ordinary shares of 1p each
 Number of shares £’000
Authorised  
At 31 March 2013, 2014 and 2015 200,000,000 2,000
Called up, allotted and fully paid  
At 31 March 2013 105,759,876 1,058
Exercise of options 321,809 3
Issue of new shares for business acquisition 1,721,321 17
At 31 March 2014 and 31 March 2015 107,803,006 1,078
During the year the Company issued nil (2014: 321,809) ordinary shares of 1p each in respect of the exercise of share options by 
employees for which a net total of £nil (2014: £134,583) was received.
At 31 March 2015 the Company held 945,203 shares (2014: 983,203) as own shares in treasury which were accounted for in the Own 
Shares Treasury reserve and had a nominal value of £9,452 (2014: £9,832) and a market value of £1,932,940 (2014: £2,426,053). This 
represents 0.9% (2014: 0.9%) of the issued share capital as at 31 March 2015 excluding own shares.
At 31 March 2015 the Company held 140,773 shares (2014: 140,773) as own shares in the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust 
(“EBT”) which were accounted for in the Own Shares EBT reserve and had a nominal value of £1,408 (2014: £1,408) and a market value 
of £287,881 (2014: £347,357). This represents 0.1% (2014: 0.1%) of the issued share capital as at 31 March 2015 excluding own shares. 
The share capital of iomart Group plc consists of ordinary shares with a par value of 1p. All shares, excluding the shares held by 
the Company in treasury and the shares held by the EBT, are equally eligible to receive dividends and represent one vote at the 
shareholders' meetings of iomart Group plc. All shares issued at 31 March 2015 are fully paid.
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
64 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
26. OWN SHARES RESERVES
 Own shares  Own shares Own shares
 EBT  Treasury Total
 £’000 £’000 £’000
  
Opening balance at 1 April 2014 (70)  (486) (556)
Issue of own shares from Treasury for option redemption - 18 18
    
Closing balance at 31 March 2015 (70)  (468) (538)
During the year 38,000 (2014: 40,250) own shares held in treasury at the carrying value of 49.5p each were issued following the exercise 
of share options by employees for which a net total of £23,820 (2014: £20,869) was received. As a consequence, at 31 March 2015 the 
Company held 945,203 shares (2014: 983,203) in treasury with a carrying value of £467,875 (2014: £486,685) which were accounted 
for in Own Shares treasury reserve; and 140,773 shares (2014: 140,773) in the EBT with a carrying value of £69,982 (2014: £69,982) 
which were accounted for in the Own Shares EBT reserve.
27. SHARE BASED PAYMENTS
The Group operated the following share based payment employee share option schemes during the year; Enterprise Management 
Incentive scheme, a SAYE sharesave scheme and a number of unapproved schemes. All schemes are settled in equity only and are 
summarised below.
    Required to remain 
 Vesting period Maximum term Performance criteria in employment
Enterprise Management  Up to 3 years 10 years after As set by
Incentive scheme from grant date of grant Remuneration Committee  Yes
Unapproved schemes Up to 3 years  10 years after As set by
 from grant date of grant Remuneration Committee Yes
Sharesave scheme 3 years from  6 months after
 grant  vesting period No Yes
The performance criteria as set by the Remuneration Committee are based on the achievement of annual objectives and continuous 
employment.
During the year, options over 38,000 ordinary shares (2014: 362,059) were exercised and the average market price at the exercise 
dates was 216.2p (2014: 269.3p). Options over 257,560 ordinary shares (2014: 120,000) were granted under the unapproved share 
option scheme with an average exercise price of 1.0p (2014: 1.0p) and no options over ordinary shares (2014: 274,435) were granted 
under the sharesave scheme. Options over 120,000 ordinary shares (2014: nil) lapsed under the unapproved share option scheme with 
an average exercise price of 1.0p (2014: £nil) and options over 33,380 (2014: nil) lapsed under the sharesave scheme with an average 
exercise price of 191.4p.
As disclosed in note 5, a share based payment charge of £809,000 (2014: £1,257,000) has been recognised in the statement of 
comprehensive income during the year in relation to the above schemes. The fair value of the employee services received is valued 
indirectly by valuing the options granted using the Black-Scholes option pricing model, which worked on the following assumptions for 
the options granted in the year:
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
65 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
27.SHARE BASED PAYMENTS (CONTINUED)
Grant date 25-Sep-14
Vesting date 25-Sep-17
Variables used 
Share price at grant date 224.1p
Volatility 58%
Dividend yield 0.5%
Number of employees holding options/units 3
Option/award life (years)   10
Expected life (years) 3.5
Risk free rate 1.79%
Expectations of meeting performance criteria  100%
Fair value 219.3p
Exercise price per share 1p
i) Expected volatility was determined at the date of grant from historic volatility, adjusted for events that were not considered to be reflective of the volatility of the 
share price going forward; and 
ii) Risk free rate was calculated based on the average Bank of England zero coupon yields
The movement in options during the year in respect of the Company’s ordinary shares of 1p each under the various share option 
schemes are as follows:
 2015 2014
 Weighted   Weighted
 average   average
 exercise price  Number of exercise price Number of
 per share (p) share options per share (p) share options  
   
Outstanding at start of year 76.16 2,675,055 64.60 2,692,679
Granted 1.00 257,560 133.47 394,435
Forfeited 42.44 (153,380) 146.10 (50,000)
Expired - - - -
Exercised 62.88 (38,000) 42.94 (362,059)
Outstanding at end of year 71.17 2,741,235 76.16 2,675,055
Exercisable at end of year 40.53 1,319,287 51.27 1,083,954
Summary of share options that were outstanding at the year end:
 Share options – outstanding Share options – exercisable
   Weighted Weighted  Weighted Weighted
 Range of  average average  average average
 exercise  exercise remaining  exercise remaining
 price per Outstanding price per contractual Outstanding price per contractual
 share (p) shares share (p) life (years) shares share (p) life (years)
       
Enterprise management 
incentive scheme 43.5 – 87.5 408,677 66.38 3.9 408,677 66.38 3.9
Unapproved schemes 1.0 – 146.1 2,091,503 58.25 7.4 910,610 28.92 6.6
Sharesave scheme 191.4 241,055 191.4 2.3 - - -
As at end of year  2,741,235 71.17 6.4 1,319,287 40.53 5.8
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
66 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
28.RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Compensation paid to key management (only directors are deemed to fall into this category) during the year was as follows:
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Salaries and other short-term employee benefits 1,414 1,434
Post-employment benefits 40 68
Share-based payments 665 1,035
 2,119 2,537
Dividends paid to key management were as follows:
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Angus MacSween 294 286
Chris Batterham 2 1
Sarah Haran 34 33
Richard Logan 17 18
Ian Ritchie 3 2
Crawford Beveridge 1 -
Total dividends paid to directors 351 340
29. CONTINGENCIES AND COMMITMENTS
(a) Contingencies
There were no contingent assets or liabilities as at 31 March 2015 (2014: nil).
(b) Commitments 
Capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment committed by the Group at 31 March 2015 was £147,000 (2014: £482,000). 
30. RISK MANAGEMENT
The Group finances its operations by raising finance through equity, bank borrowings and finance leases. No speculative treasury 
transactions are undertaken however the Group does from time to time enter into forward foreign exchange contracts to hedge known 
currency exposures. Financial assets and liabilities include those assets and liabilities of a financial nature, namely cash, short term 
receivables/payables and borrowings. 
The carrying amounts of financial assets presented in the statement of financial position relate to the following measurement 
categories as defined in IAS 39:
   
  Loans and receivables
  £’000
2015   
Non-current:   
Lease deposit  2,416
  
Current:  
Trade receivables  5,049
Cash and cash equivalents  8,347
Other receivables  650
Total for category  16,462
2014   
Non-current:   
Lease deposit  2,416
  
Current:  
Trade receivables  3,253
Cash and cash equivalents  13,025
Other receivables  442
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
67 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Total for category  19,136
30. RISK MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED)
The carrying amounts of financial liabilities presented in the statement of financial position relate to the following measurement 
categories as defined in IAS 39:
  Financial
 At fair value  liabilities
 through profit  measured at Other
 or loss amortised cost  (non-IAS 39) Total
 £’000 £’000 £’000  £’000
2015     
Non-current:
Trade payables - (703) - (703)
Finance leasing capital obligations - - (1,346) (1,346)
 
Current:    
Trade payables - (4,186) - (4,186)
Accruals  - (6,396) - (6,396)
Bank loan - (21,457) - (21,457)
Contingent consideration due on acquisitions (1,650) - - (1,650)
Finance leasing capital obligations  - - (938) (938)
Interest rate swap contract (191) - - (191)
Total for category (1,841) (32,742) (2,284) (36,867)
2014    
Non-current:    
Finance leasing capital obligations - - (1,780) (1,780)
Bank loan - (11,936) - (11,936)
 
Current:    
Trade payables - (3,733) - (3,733)
Accruals  - (4,268) - (4,268)
Bank loan - (18,090) - (18,090)
Contingent consideration due on acquisition (1,271) - - (1,271)
Finance leasing capital obligations  - - (1,038) (1,038)
Interest rate swap contract (66) - - (66)
Total for category (1,337) (38,027) (2,818) (42,182)
The Group’s financial liabilities per the fair value hierarchy classifications under IFRS 13 ‘Financial Instruments: Disclosures’ are 
described below:
     Total gains
 Fair value    and (losses)
 at 31 March Level Description Inputs used recognised in
Category of  2015 in of valuation for valuation profit or loss
financial liability £’000 hierarchy technique model £’000 
Contingent    Based on level of future Management estimate
consideration due on    profitability and probability on probability and time scale 
acquisition (1,650) 3 that vendor will comply of vendor meeting profitability
   with obligations under sale targets and complying
   and purchase agreement. with obligations. -
Interest rate swap    Interest rate swap contracts Observable interest rates
contracts (191) 2 are not traded in active markets. corresponding to the maturity
   Fair valued using observable of the contracts.
 .  interest rates corresponding  Effects of non-observable
   to the maturity of the contracts.  inputs are not significant
    for interest rate swaps. (125)
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
68 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Total fair value (1,841)   Total net losses (125)
30. RISK MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED)
There have been no changes to valuation techniques or any amounts recognised through ‘Other Comprehensive Income’. The 
£125,000 loss recognised in profit or loss on interest rate swap contracts is included in finance costs. 
The reconciliation of the carrying amounts of financial instruments classified within Level 3 is as follows:
Contingent consideration 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Balance at start of the year (1,271) (358)
Acquired through business combination (1,650) (1,200)
Settled in cash during the year 1,271 326
Loss recognised in profit of loss under:  
- Administrative expenses - (39)
Balance at end of year (1,650) (1,271)
Total amount included in profit or loss on Level 3 instruments under administrative expenses - (39)
Liquidity risk
The Group seeks to manage financial risk to ensure sufficient liquidity is available to meet foreseeable needs and to invest cash safely 
and profitably. In note 22 the contractual maturity analysis of the Group’s total borrowings of £23.7m (2014: £32.8m) is shown. The 
Group has £13.5m (2014: £5.0m) available to draw down on the revolving credit facility and reviews its cash flow requirements on a 
monthly basis.
Interest rates
The interest rate on the Group’s cash at bank is determined by reference to the base rate and the interest rate on the Group’s revolving 
credit loan facilities is based on LIBOR plus a margin. The Group has entered into an interest rate swap in respect of £10m which has 
been drawn under the revolving credit facility from April 2015 which reduces by £2m every 6 months until October 2017 and as a 
consequence the interest rate on that loan is fixed at 2.03% from April 2015 until maturity. The Group has also entered interest rate 
swap arrangements in respect of £4m which has been drawn under the multi option credit facility which has been fixed at 1.02% until 
June 2015 and £5m drawn under the multi option credit facility which has been fixed at 1.26% from August 2014 for 12 months. The 
remaining £12.5m drawn under the multi option credit facility is not covered by interest rate swap arrangements. The fair value of the 
interest rate swap contracts is estimated to be a loss of £125,000 (2014: £20,000) which has been recognised in profit or loss for the 
year.
Currency risk
During the year the Group made payments totalling US$6.0m (2014: US$4.1m) and EUR€0.2m (2014: EUR€0.1m) to acquire domain 
names for its Easyspace division and licences for its Hosting division. In addition, the Group received US$2.1m (2014: US$nil) and 
EUR€0.5m (2014: EUR€nil) from Hosting customers billed in foreign currency. During the year, the Group entered into forward exchange 
contracts to hedge its exposure to the US Dollar arising on these purchases but at the year end the Group had no outstanding forward 
contracts in place (2014: none). Consequently, the fair value of currency contracts at the year end was £nil (2014: £nil). The Group has 
no non-monetary assets or liabilities denominated in foreign currencies and the level of monetary assets and liabilities denominated 
in foreign currencies is minimal. 
Capital risk
The Group currently has net debt, due to its acquisition activities. The Group’s policy on capital structure is to maintain a level of 
gross cash which the Board considers to be adequate for the size of the Group’s operations which at the moment is around £10m. 
Consequently, the Group makes use of both banking facilities and finance lease arrangements to help fund the acquisition of 
companies and capital expenditure in order to maintain that level of gross cash. The Group is committed to paying annual dividends 
depending on the level of adjusted diluted earnings per share. The Group was in compliance with all covenants under its banking facility 
arrangements throughout the reporting period.
Credit risk
The Group provides standard credit terms (normally 30 days) to some of its customers which has resulted in trade receivables of 
£5,049,000 (2014: £3,253,000) which are stated net of applicable provisions and which represent the total amount exposed to credit 
risk. The lease deposits of £2,416,000 (2014: £2,416,000) are held in escrow accounts with the landlord’s main UK bankers and the 
landlord is a major UK plc. The Group’s cash at bank £8,347,000 (2014: £13,025,000) is held within the UK clearing banks. 
In respect of trade receivables, lease deposits and cash in bank the directors consider the risk of exposure to credit is minimal due to 
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
69 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
the reasons given above.
31. POST BALANCE SHEET EVENT
The Group acquired 100% of the issued share capital and voting rights of SystemsUp on 5 June 2015 on a no debt, no cash, normalised 
working capital basis.
SystemsUp is a consultancy operation based in London which specialises in the provision of Public Cloud consultancy largely in the 
UK public sector. The company has formed strong relationships with the Public Cloud providers and its consultants are highly skilled 
in Public Cloud consultancy and deployment. The acquisition is in line with the Group’s strategy to grow its managed cloud computing 
operations both organically and by acquisition.
At completion, an initial payment of £9.0m in cash was made and in addition an amount of £0.5m was paid as an interim settlement of 
the expected amount due in respect of the no debt, no cash, normalised working capital adjustment. The initial payment of £9.0m was 
funded by a draw down from the Group’s revolving credit facility. A further sum is contingent on a measure of revenue for the year to 
31 March 2016 which is expected to be paid in either May or June 2016. The potential fair value of the contingent consideration payable 
has been initially estimated to be in the region of £1.0m to £3.5m. This is a provisional estimate of the likely range of the contingent 
consideration payment. The contingent consideration is not limited.
Due to the proximity of the completion date of the acquisition to the date of the approval of the Group’s financial statements there has 
been insufficient time to complete the initial accounting for the business combination including completing the assessment of the fair 
value of the contingent consideration. In addition, it has not been possible to disclose the fair value of the amounts to be recognised 
as of the acquisition date for each major class of assets acquired and liabilities assumed and in particular for acquired receivables the 
fair value of receivables, the gross contractual amounts receivable and amounts that are not expected to be collectable; any contingent 
liabilities to be recognised; and the total amount of goodwill that is expected to be deductible for tax purposes. Whilst the amount of 
goodwill to be recognised has not yet been determined any goodwill that will exist will relate to the premium paid by the Group for a 
pre-existing, well positioned business; the specialised, industry specific knowledge of its staff; and the potential benefits to the Group 
of integrating the business into its processes to provide cross selling opportunities between the Group and SystemsUp.
The Group is estimated to have incurred £150,000 of third party acquisition related costs in respect of this acquisition. These expenses 
have not yet been invoiced to the Group but will be included in administrative expenses in the Group’s consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income for the year ended 31 March 2016
As the completion date of the acquisition was after the balance sheet date of the Group, there is no revenue or profit before tax from 
SystemsUp included in the Group’s Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income for the year ended 31 March 2015. In addition, 
financial information from SystemsUp for the year ended 31 March 2015 has not been included in the pro-forma full year information 
as shown in note 11.
 
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
70 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF IOMART GROUP PLC
We have audited the parent company financial statements of iomart Group plc for the year ended 31 March 2015 which comprise the 
parent company balance sheet and the related notes. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is 
applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
This report is made solely to the company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. 
Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company’s members those matters we are required to state to 
them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility 
to anyone other than the company and the company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we 
have formed.
Respective responsibilities of directors and auditor
As explained more fully in the Directors’ Responsibilities Statement, the directors are responsible for the preparation of the parent 
company financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view. Our responsibility is to audit and express an 
opinion on the parent company financial statements in accordance with applicable law and International Standards on Auditing (UK and 
Ireland). Those standards require us to comply with the Auditing Practices Board’s Ethical Standards for Auditors.
Scope of the audit of the financial statements
A description of the scope of an audit of financial statements is provided on the Financial Reporting Council's website at www.frc.org.
uk/auditscopeukprivate. 
Opinion on financial statements
In our opinion the parent company financial statements:
• give a true and fair view of the state of the company's affairs as at 31 March 2015; 
• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.
Opinion on other matter prescribed by the terms of our engagement
In our opinion the part of the Report of the Board to the Members on Directors' Remuneration which is described as having been 
audited and which we were engaged to audit has been properly prepared in accordance with Rule 19 of the AIM Rules for Companies.
Opinion on other matter prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
In our opinion the information given in the Strategic Report and Directors' Report for the financial year for which the financial 
statements are prepared is consistent with the parent company financial statements.
Matters on which we are required to report by exception
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our 
opinion:
• adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received 
 from branches not visited by us; or
• the parent company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
• certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
Other matter
We have reported separately on the Group financial statements of iomart Group plc for the year ended 31 March 2015.
Robert Hannah
Senior Statutory Auditor
for and on behalf of Grant Thornton UK LLP
Statutory Auditor, Chartered Accountants
Glasgow
8 June 2015
Notes to the financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
71 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
 
BALANCE SHEET
 Note 2015 2014
  £’000 £’000
    
 
FIXED ASSETS   
Investments 3 79,057 72,797
  79,057 72,797
CURRENT ASSETS   
Debtors 4 35,410 25,036
Cash at bank and in hand  6,694 11,850
  42,104 36,886
 
CREDITORS: amounts falling due within one year 6 (53,034) (49,968)
 
NET CURRENT LIABILITIES  (10,930) (13,082) 
   
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES  68,127 59,715
 
CREDITORS: amounts falling after more than one year 7 - (12,000)
 
NET ASSETS  68,127 47,715
 
CAPITAL AND RESERVES    
Called up share capital 8 1,078 1,078
Own shares 9 (538) (556)
Capital redemption reserve 9 1,200 1,200
Share premium account 9 21,067 21,067
Merger reserve 9 4,983 4,983
Profit and loss account 9 40,337 19,943
 
SHAREHOLDERS’ FUNDS 10 68,127 47,715
    
 
These financial statements were approved by the board of directors and authorised for issue on 8 June 2015.
Signed on behalf of the board of directors
Angus MacSween
Director and chief executive officer
iomart Group plc – Company Number: SC204560
Parent company financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
72 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
The following notes form part of the primary financial statements.
1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The financial statements are prepared in accordance with applicable United Kingdom accounting standards.
Investments
Investments held as fixed assets are stated at cost less provision for any permanent diminution in value. As part of the acquisition 
strategy of the Company, the trade and net assets of subsidiary undertakings at or shortly after acquisition may be transferred at book 
value to fellow subsidiaries. Where a trade is hived across to a fellow subsidiary undertaking, the cost of the investment in the original 
subsidiary, which then becomes a non-trading subsidiary, is added to the cost of the investment in the entity to which the trade has 
been hived. In order to accurately assess any potential impairment of investments, the carrying value of the investment in all companies 
transferred is considered together against the future cash flows and net asset position of those companies which received the trade 
and net assets.
Deferred tax
Deferred tax is provided in full on temporary differences which result in an obligation at the period end to pay more tax, or a right 
to pay less tax, at a future date, at rates expected to apply when they crystallise based on current tax rates and law that have been 
enacted or substantively enacted at the balance sheet date.  Temporary differences arise from the inclusion of items of income and 
expenditure in taxation computations in periods different from those in which they are included in financial statements. Deferred tax 
assets are recognised to the extent that it is regarded as more likely than not that they will be recovered. Deferred tax assets and 
liabilities are not discounted.
Leases
Assets obtained under finance leases, which transfer substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership, are capitalised at their fair 
value on acquisition and depreciated over their estimated useful economic lives.  The finance charges are allocated over the period of 
the lease in proportion to the capital element outstanding.
Operating lease rentals are charged to profit or loss in equal annual amounts over the lease term.
Financial instruments
Financial assets are recognised in the balance sheet at amortised cost. Provision is made for diminution in value where appropriate.
Income and expenditure on financial instruments is recognised on the accruals basis and credited or charged to profit or loss in the 
financial period to which it relates.
Pension scheme arrangements
The Company contributes to an auto-enrolment pension scheme and also to a number of personal pension schemes on behalf of 
executive directors and some senior employees. Pension costs are charged to profit or loss in the period to which they relate.
Share-based payment 
All share-based payment arrangements granted after 7 November 2002 that had not vested prior to 1 January 2005 are recognised in 
the financial statements. All share-based payment arrangements in the company are equity settled.  All goods and services received in 
exchange for the grant of any share-based payment are measured at their fair values.  Where employees are rewarded using share-
based payments, the fair values of employees’ services are determined indirectly by reference to the fair value of the instrument 
granted to the employee. This fair value is appraised at the grant date and excludes the impact of non-market vesting conditions (for 
example, profitability and sales growth targets).
All equity-settled share-based payments are ultimately recognised as an expense through profit or loss with a corresponding credit to 
“Profit and loss reserve” unless the share based payment arrangement relates to an employee of a subsidiary company where in such 
instances the share based payment is added to the cost of investment in that subsidiary as a capital contribution.  
If vesting periods or other non-market vesting conditions apply, the expense is allocated over the vesting period, based on the best 
available estimate of the number of share options expected to vest.   Estimates are subsequently revised if there is any indication 
that the number of share options expected to vest differs from previous estimates.  Any cumulative adjustment prior to vesting is 
recognised in the current period.  No adjustment is made to any expense recognised in prior periods if share options ultimately 
exercised are different to that estimated on vesting.
Upon exercise of share options the proceeds received net of attributable transaction costs are credited to share capital, and where 
Parent company financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
73 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
iomart continues to innovate in its product releases. A new campaign to 
help businesses transform how they work in the cloud was launched at 
Cloud Expo Europe in March. ‘SavetheCloud365’ showcases how using 
iomart can help customers migrate to and manage Office 365 whilst 
benefiting conservation charity Rainforest Concern.
The campaign was launched by iomart’s own Queen of the IT Jungle, ‘I’m 
a Celebrity….Get Me Out Of Here’ contestant and actress Vicki Michelle. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
appropriate share premium.
2. PROFIT OF PARENT COMPANY
As permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006, the profit and loss account of the parent company is not presented as part 
of these financial statements.  The parent company’s profit for the financial year after taxation was £21,466,000 (2014: £2,452,000).
3. INVESTMENTS HELD AS FIXED ASSETS  
 Shares in subsidiary undertakings 
 £’000
 
Cost   
At 1 April 2014  74,573
Additions 4,370
Share based payment (note 11) 114
Cost at 31 March 2015 79,057
 
Impairment 
At 1 April 2014 (1,776)
Reversal of previous impairment 1,776
Impairment at 31 March 2015 - 
 
Net book value of Investments at 31 March 2015 79,057
 
Net book value of Investments at 31 March 2014 72,797
All of the above investments are unlisted.
The following subsidiaries are included in the Company financial statements:
 Ordinary share capital
    Owned by
 Country of   Owned by the subsidiary 
 registration   company undertakings
 and operation Activity % % 
 
iomart Limited  Scotland Dormant  100 -
iomart Hosting Limited  Scotland Managed hosting services 100 -
iomart Cloud Services Limited  Scotland Managed hosting services 100 -
EQSN Limited Scotland Non-trading 100 -
iomart Virtual Servers Hosting Limited  Scotland Dormant 100 -
Netintelligence Limited  Scotland Dormant 100 -
iomart Development Limited Scotland Dormant 100 -
iomart Cloud Inc       USA Managed hosting services 100 -
Easyspace Limited England Webservices 100 -
Open Minded Solutions Limited England Webservices 100 -
Backup Technology Holdings Limited England Non-trading 100 -
Backup Technology Limited England Non-trading - 100
Switch Media Limited England Webservices 100 -
Internet Engineering Limited England Webservices 100 -
Redstation Limited England Non-trading 100 -
My Documents Limited England Dormant 100 -
Switch Media (Ireland) Limited England Webservices - 100
Global Gold Network Limited England Webservices - 100
Global Gold Holdings Limited England Non-trading 100 -
Skymarket Limited England Non-trading 100 -
Rapidswitch Limited England Non-trading 100 -
Titan Internet Limited England Non-trading 100 -
Melbourne Server Hosting Limited England Managed hosting services 100 -
ServerSpace Limited England Managed hosting services 100 -
iomart Datacentres Limited  England Non-trading 100 -
Internetters Limited England Dormant - 100
NicNames Limited England Dormant - 100
Web Genie Internet Limited England Non-trading - 100
Parent company financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
75 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
4. DEBTORS
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
   
  
Prepayments and accrued income 498 495
Other debtors 15 -
Other taxation and social security 342 344
Deferred taxation (note 5) 576 600
Corporation tax 1,187 -
Amounts owed by subsidiary undertakings 32,792 23,597
   
 35,410 25,036
 
5. DEFERRED TAXATION
The Company had recognised deferred tax assets and potential unrecognised deferred tax assets as follows:
 2015 2014
 Recognised Unrecognised Recognised Unrecognised
 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
    
Share based remuneration 576 - 600 -
The movement in the deferred tax account during the year was: 
   2015 2014
   £’000 £’000
   
Balance brought forward   600 682
Profit and loss account movement arising during the year   (5) (101)
Profit and loss account reserve movement during the year   (19) 19
Balance carried forward   576 600
The deferred tax asset in relation to share based remuneration arises from the anticipated future tax relief on the exercise of share 
options.
6. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR 
   2015 2014
   £’000 £’000
    
Trade creditors   97 137
Other taxation and social security   65 55
Accruals and deferred income   1,084 1,108
Contingent consideration   1,650 1,271
Bank loan   21,500 18,000
Amounts owed to subsidiary undertakings   28,638 29,397
   53,034 49,968
7. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE AFTER MORE THAN ONE YEAR 
   2015 2014
   £’000 £’000
Bank loan   - 12,000
Parent company financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
76 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
   - 12,000
 
8. SHARE CAPITAL
 Ordinary shares of 1p each
 Number of shares £’000
Authorised   
At 31 March 2013, 2014 and 2015 200,000,000 2,000
Called up, allotted and fully paid   
At 31 March 2013 105,759,876 1,058
Exercise of options 321,809 3
Issue of new shares for business acquisition 1,721,321 17
At 31 March 2014 and 31 March 2015 107,803,006 1,078
During the year the Company issued nil (2014: 321,809) ordinary shares of 1p each in respect of the exercise of share options by 
employees for which a net total of £nil (2014: £134,583) was received.
At 31 March 2015 the Company held 945,203 shares (2014: 983,203) as own shares in treasury which were accounted for in the Own 
Shares Treasury reserve and had a nominal value of £9,452 (2014: £9,832) and a market value of £1,932,940 (2014: £2,426,053). This 
represents 0.9% (2014: 0.9%) of the issued share capital as at 31 March 2015 excluding own shares.
At 31 March 2015 the Company held 140,773 shares (2014: 140,773) as own shares in the iomart Group plc Employee Benefit Trust 
(“EBT”) which were accounted for in the Own Shares EBT reserve and had a nominal value of £1,408 (2014: £1,408) and a market value 
of £287,881 (2014: £347,357). This represents 0.1% (2014: 0.1%) of the issued share capital as at 31 March 2015 excluding own shares. 
The share capital of iomart Group plc consists of ordinary shares with a par value of 1p. All shares, excluding the shares held by 
the Company in treasury and the shares held by the EBT, are equally eligible to receive dividends and represent one vote at the 
shareholders' meetings of iomart Group plc. All shares issued at 31 March 2015 are fully paid.
9. STATEMENT OF MOVEMENT IN RESERVES
 Own Own Capital Share  Profit
  shares  shares redemption premium Merger and loss
 EBT  treasury reserve account reserve account
 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Profit for the financial year - - - - - 21,466
Dividends - - - - - (1,867)
Share based payments - - - - - 809
Issue of own shares from Treasury - 18 - - - 5
Deferred tax on share based remuneration - - - - - (19)
 - 18 - - - 20,394
      
Opening balance (70)  (486)   1,200 21,067 4,983 19,943
      
Closing balance (70)  (468)   1,200 21,067 4,983 40,337
During the year 38,000 (2014: 40,250) own shares held in treasury at the carrying value of 46.5p each were issued following the exercise 
of share options by employees for which a net total of £23,820 (2014: £20,869) was received. As a consequence, at 31 March 2015 the 
Company held 945,203 shares (2014: 983,203) in treasury with a carrying value of £439,519 (2014: £486,685) which were accounted 
for in Own Shares treasury reserve; and 140,773 shares (2014: 140,773) in the EBT with a carrying value of £69,982 (2014: £69,982) 
Parent company financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
77 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
which were accounted for in the Own Shares EBT reserve.
10. RECONCILIATION OF MOVEMENTS IN SHAREOLDERS’ FUNDS
   
 2015 2014
 £’000 £’000
Profit for the financial year 21,466 2,452
Dividends (1,867) (1,483)
Share based payments 809 1,257
Deferred tax on share based remuneration (19) 19
Issue of own shares from treasury 23 21
Issue of new shares for business acquisition - 5,000
Issue of new shares for option redemption - 134
Net increase in shareholder funds 20,412 7,400
Opening balance 47,715 40,315
Closing balance    68,127 47,715
11. SHARE BASED PAYMENTS
For details of share based payment awards and fair values see note 27 to the Group financial statements. The Company accounts 
recognise the charge for share based payments for the year of £809,000 (2014: £1,257,000) by;  
 1) taking the charge in relation to employees of the parent company through the parent company statement of 
  comprehensive income £695,000 (2014: £1,064,000),
 2) recording an increase to its investment in subsidiaries for the amounts attributable to employees of subsidiaries and 
  recording a corresponding entry to the profit and loss account reserve £114,000 (2014: £193,000).
12. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
The Company has taken advantage of the exemption in Financial Reporting Standard No. 8 “Related Party Transactions” not to disclose 
transactions with wholly owned subsidiaries. Related party transactions regarding remuneration and dividends paid to key management 
(only directors are deemed to fall into this category) of the Company have been disclosed in note 28 of the Group financial statements.
13. CONTINGENCIES AND COMMITMENTS
 (a) Contingencies
  There were no contingent assets or liabilities as at 31 March 2015 (2014: nil).
  (b) Commitments 
  There are no commitments present as at 31 March 2015 (2014: nil).
14. POST BALANCE SHEET EVENT
On 5 June 2015 the Company acquired the entire share capital of SystemsUp. Further details of the acquisition have been given in note 
31 of the Group financial statements.
15. ULITIMATE CONTROLLING PARTY
The Directors’ have assessed that there is no ultimate controlling party.
Parent company financial statements. Year ended 31March 2015
78 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
iomart continues to be recognised at major 
Industry award ceremonies. Its Maidenhead 
Software Defined Data Centre investment won 
Project of the Year at the Network Computing 
Awards and received a commendation from the 
British Computing Society at the UK IT Industry 
Awards. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015 80
 
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 2015 annual general meeting 
of iomart Group plc (the “Company”) will be held at Lister Pavilion, 
Kelvin Campus, West of Scotland Science Park, Glasgow G20 0SP 
on 26 August 2015 at 10.00 am for the purpose of considering 
and, if thought fit, passing the following resolutions, of which 
resolutions 1 to 7 (inclusive) will be proposed as ordinary 
resolutions and resolutions 8 to 9 (inclusive) will be proposed as 
special resolutions:-
1 To receive and adopt the financial statements of the Company 
and the directors' and auditors' reports thereon for the year 
ended 31 March 2015.
2 To approve the report of the board to the members on 
directors' remuneration for the year ended 31 March 2015.
3 To reappoint Angus MacSween (who retires by rotation and, 
being eligible, offers himself for re-election) as a director of the 
Company.
4 To reappoint Richard Logan (who retires by rotation and, 
being eligible, offers himself for re-election) as a director of the 
Company.
5 To declare a final dividend for the year ended 31 March 2015 
of 2.50p per share payable on 1 September 2015 to shareholders 
on the register of members at the close of business on 14 August 
2015.
6 To reappoint Grant Thornton UK LLP, Chartered Accountants, 
as auditors of the Company from the conclusion of this meeting 
until the conclusion of the next general meeting at which accounts 
are laid before shareholders and to authorise the directors to fix 
the auditors’ remuneration. 
7 THAT the directors of the Company are generally and 
unconditionally authorised pursuant to section 551 of the 
Companies Act 2006 to exercise all powers to allot shares in the 
Company and to grant rights to subscribe for or to convert any 
security into shares in the Company:
(a) comprising equity securities (as defined in section 560(1) of 
the Companies Act 2006) up to an aggregate nominal amount 
of £712,385.36 (including within such limit any shares issued or 
rights granted under paragraph (b) below) in connection with an 
offer by way of rights issue:
 (i) to ordinary shareholders in proportion (as nearly as may be 
  practicable) to their existing holdings;
 (ii) to the holders of other equity securities as required by the 
  rights of those securities or as the directors otherwise 
  consider necessary,
and subject to such exclusions or other arrangements as the 
directors consider expedient in relation to fractional entitlements, 
legal, regulatory or practical problems under the laws of, or the 
requirements of any regulatory body or stock exchange in, any 
territory, or any other matter; and
(b) in any other case up to an aggregate nominal amount of 
£356,192.68 (such amount to be reduced by the nominal amount 
of any equity securities allotted pursuant to the authority in 
paragraph (a) above in excess of £356,192.68); 
provided that such authority, unless renewed, varied or revoked 
by the Company, shall expire on 26 November 2016 or, if earlier, 
the date of the next annual general meeting of the Company 
after the passing of this resolution save that the Company may, 
before such expiry, make an offer or agreement which would or 
might require equity securities to be allotted after such expiry and 
the directors may allot equity securities in pursuance of such an 
offer or agreement as if the authority conferred hereby had not 
expired. 
This resolution revokes and replaces all unexercised authorities 
previously granted to the directors to allot shares in the Company 
and to grant rights to subscribe for, or to convert any security into, 
shares in the Company but is without prejudice to any allotment 
of shares or grant of rights already made, offered or agreed to be 
made pursuant to such authorities.
 
8 THAT, subject to the passing of resolution 7, the directors of 
the Company are generally empowered pursuant to section 570 
of the Companies Act 2006 to allot equity securities (within the 
meaning of section 560(1) of the Companies Act 2006) for cash, 
pursuant to the authority conferred by resolution 7, as if section 
561(1) of the Companies Act 2006 did not apply to any such 
allotment provided that this power is limited to:
(a) the allotment of equity securities in connection with an offer of 
equity securities (but, in the case of the authority granted under 
resolution 7(b), by way of a rights issue only) to:
 (i) the ordinary shareholders made in proportion (as nearly as 
  may be practicable) to their existing respective holdings; 
  and
 (ii) to the holders of other equity securities as required by the 
  rights of those securities or as the directors otherwise 
  consider necessary,
and subject to such exclusions or other arrangements as the 
directors may deem necessary or expedient in relation to treasury 
shares, fractional entitlements, record dates, legal or practical 
problems in or under the laws of any territory or the requirements 
of any regulatory body or stock exchange; and
(b) the allotment of equity securities pursuant to any authority 
conferred upon the directors in accordance with and pursuant to 
article 41 of the articles of association of the Company; and
(c) the allotment (otherwise than pursuant to paragraphs (a) and 
(b) above) of equity securities up to an aggregate nominal amount 
of £106,857.80.
Notice of the 2015 Annual General Meeting
Annual General Meeting iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Notice of the 2015 Annual General Meeting
81
The power granted by this resolution will expire on 26 November 
2016 or, if earlier, the conclusion of the Company's next annual 
general meeting (unless renewed, varied or revoked by the 
Company prior to or on such date) save that the Company may, 
before such expiry, make offers or agreements which would or 
might require equity securities to be allotted after such expiry and 
the directors may allot equity securities in pursuance of any such 
offer or agreement notwithstanding that the power conferred by 
this resolution has expired.
This resolution revokes and replaces all unexercised powers 
previously granted to the directors to allot equity securities as 
if section 561(1) of the Companies Act 2006 did not apply but 
without prejudice to any allotment of equity securities already 
made or agreed to be made pursuant to such authorities. 
9 That the Company be and is hereby generally and 
unconditionally authorised for the purposes of section 701 of 
the Companies Act 2006 to make one or more market purchases 
(within the meaning of section 693(4) of that Act) of ordinary 
shares of 1 pence each in the Company provided that:
(a) the maximum number of ordinary shares hereby authorised to 
be purchased is 10,685,780, representing 10% of the Company's 
issued ordinary share capital (excluding for these purposes the 
945,203 shares held by the Company in treasury) at the date of 
the notice of this annual general meeting);
(b) the minimum price (exclusive of any expenses) which may be 
paid for each ordinary share is 1 pence;
(c) the maximum price (exclusive of any expenses) which may be 
paid for each ordinary share shall be not more than 5% above the 
average of the middle market quotations for an ordinary share on 
the relevant investment exchange on which the ordinary shares 
are traded for the five business days immediately preceding the 
date on which such ordinary share is contracted to be purchased;
(d) unless previously revoked or varied, the authority hereby 
conferred shall expire on the conclusion of the next annual 
general meeting of the Company; and
(e) the Company may make a contract or contracts for the 
purchase of ordinary shares under this authority before the 
expiry of this authority which would or might be executed 
wholly or partly after the expiry of such authority, and may make 
purchases of ordinary shares in pursuance of such a contract or 
contracts, as if such authority had not expired.
By order of the board  
  
 
Bruce Hall 
Lister Pavilion, Kelvin Campus,
Company Secretary
West of Scotland Science Park,
30 June 2015  
Glasgow G20 0SP
NOTES:
Appointment of Proxy
1 As a member of the Company you are entitled to appoint a 
proxy to exercise all or any of your rights to attend, speak and 
vote at a meeting of the Company.  You should have received a 
proxy form with this notice of meeting.  You can only appoint a 
proxy using the procedures set out in the notes to the proxy form. 
A proxy need not be a member of the Company.
2 To be effective, the proxy form, and any power of attorney 
or other authority under which it is executed (or a duly certified 
copy of any such power or authority), must be deposited at the 
office of the Company’s registrars, Capita Registrars, PXS, 34 
Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 4TU, not less than 48 
hours (excluding weekends and bank holidays) before the time for 
holding the meeting (i.e. by 10.00am on Monday 24 August 2015) 
and if not so deposited shall be invalid.
Entitlement to attend and vote
3 Pursuant to Regulation 41 of the Uncertificated Securities 
Regulations 2001, only those members entered in the Company's 
register of members at:
• 6.00pm on 24 August 2015; or
• if this meeting is adjourned, at 6.00pm on the day two days 
 prior to the adjourned meeting,
shall be entitled to attend and vote at the meeting.
Documents on Display
4 Copies of the service contracts and letters of appointment of 
the directors of the Company will be available:
 • for at least 15 minutes prior to the meeting; and
 • during the meeting.
Communication
5 Except as provided above, members who wish to communicate 
with the Company in relation to the meeting should do so by post 
to the Company's registered office, details of which are below.  No 
other methods of communication will be accepted.
Address: 
The Company Secretary, iomart Group plc
Lister Pavilion, Kelvin Campus, West of Scotland Science Park
Glasgow G20 0SP
  iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Notice of the 2015 Annual General Meeting
82
EXPLANATORY NOTES TO THE NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL 
MEETING OF IOMART GROUP PLC
Ordinary Resolutions
Resolutions 1 to 7 are all to be proposed as ordinary resolutions.  
This means that for each of those resolutions to be passed, more 
than half of the votes cast must be in favour of the resolution.
Resolution 1 – To receive and adopt the financial statements 
for the year ended 31 March 2015 and the directors' and 
auditors' reports thereon
For each financial year the directors of the Company must present 
the audited financial statements, the directors' report and the 
auditors' report on the financial statements to the shareholders 
at an annual general meeting.  
Resolution 2 – To approve the directors' remuneration report
Shareholders are asked to approve the directors' remuneration 
report which may be found in the annual report on pages 29 
to 31.  This resolution is an advisory one and no entitlement to 
remuneration is conditional on the resolution being passed.
Resolutions 3 and 4 – Re-election of directors
Under article 24 of the Company's articles of association one 
third of the directors are required to retire by rotation at each 
annual general meeting.  Pursuant to those articles, Mr Angus 
MacSween and Mr Richard Logan are required to retire by 
rotation at this annual general meeting and, being eligible, offer 
themselves for reappointment. The board of directors is satisfied 
that the performance of Mr Angus MacSween and Mr Richard 
Logan continues to be effective and demonstrates commitment 
to their roles with the Company including commitment of time for 
board meetings and other duties required of them.  Accordingly, 
resolutions 3 and 4 propose the reappointment of Mr Angus 
MacSween and Mr Richard Logan.
Brief biographical details of Mr Angus MacSween and Mr Richard 
Logan are given below.
58, appointed 2000; after a short service commission in the Royal 
Navy, Angus started his first business selling telephone systems 
in 1984. Since selling this first business he has established, grown 
and sold 5 profitable businesses in the telephony and internet 
sector. Following the sale of Teledata Limited, the UK’s leading 
telephone information services company to Scottish Telecom plc, 
Angus spent two years on the executive of Scottish Telecom plc 
where he was responsible for the development of the company's 
Internet division. In December 1998 Angus founded iomart.
57, appointed 2006; Richard is a chartered accountant having 
qualified with Arthur Young in 1984. Richard then spent 7 years 
with Ben Line Group initially as Group treasurer and latterly as 
financial director of Ben Line’s main container shipping division.  
From 1992 to 2002 Richard served as finance director of Kingston 
SCL a company which provided administration and billing software 
to the mobile communications market during which time he was 
involved in a management buy-out and subsequent trade sale of 
the company.  Immediately prior to joining iomart Richard served 
as finance director of ePOINT Group, a technology company 
based in Scotland.
Resolution 5 – To declare a dividend 2.50p per ordinary share
Subject to the provisions of the Companies Acts, the Company may 
by ordinary resolution declare dividends, but no dividend shall 
exceed the amount recommended by the board of directors.  The 
board of directors recommends the payment of a final dividend 
of 2.50p per ordinary share, to be payable to shareholders 
registered at close of business on 14 August 2015.
Resolution 6 – Re-appointment and remuneration of auditors
The Company is required at each general meeting at which 
financial statements are presented to shareholders to appoint 
auditors who will remain in office until the next such meeting.  
Grant Thornton UK LLP have expressed their willingness to 
continue in office for a further year.  In accordance with company 
law and corporate governance best practice, shareholders are 
also asked to authorise the directors to determine the auditors' 
remuneration.
Resolution 7 – Authority to allot shares 
Under section 551 of the Companies Act 2006, the directors of a 
company may only allot shares or grant rights to subscribe for, or 
to convert any security into, shares in the Company if authorised 
to do so.
In line with guidance issued by the Investment Management 
Association, the authority contained in paragraph (a) of this 
resolution will (if passed) give the directors authority to allot 
ordinary shares in connection with a rights issue in favour of 
ordinary shareholders up to an aggregate nominal amount 
equal to £712,385.36 (representing 71,238,536 ordinary shares) 
as reduced by the nominal amount of any shares issued under 
paragraph (b) of this resolution.  This amount (before any 
reduction) represents approximately two-thirds of the issued 
ordinary share capital (excluding treasury shares) of the Company 
as at the latest practicable date prior to publication of the Notice 
of Meeting. 
The authority contained in paragraph (b) of this resolution will (if 
passed) give the directors the authority to allot ordinary shares 
up to an aggregate nominal value of £356,192.68 (representing 
35,619,268 ordinary shares of 1p each).  This amount represents 
approximately one-third of the issued ordinary share capital 
(excluding treasury shares) of the Company as at the latest 
practicable date prior to the publication of the Notice of the 
Meeting.  This authority will expire on 26 November 2016 or, if 
earlier, at the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting.
Special Resolutions
Resolutions 8 and 9 will be proposed as special resolutions.  
This means that for each of those resolutions to be passed, at 
least three-quarters of the votes cast must be in favour of the 
resolution. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Notice of the 2015 Annual General Meeting
83
Resolution 8 - Disapplication of statutory pre-emption rights
If new shares are to be allotted for cash, section 561(1) of the 
Companies Act 2006 requires that those shares are offered 
first to existing shareholders pro rata to their holdings.  An offer 
of this type is called a "rights issue" and the entitlement to be 
offered a new share is known as a "pre-emption right". These 
pre-emption provisions also apply to the sale of treasury shares 
by the Company.
There may be circumstances, however, where it is in the interests 
of the Company for the directors to allot shares and/or sell 
treasury shares other than to shareholders in proportion to their 
existing holding or otherwise than strictly in compliance with the 
requirements of the Companies Act 2006. This cannot be done 
under the Companies Act 2006 unless the shareholders first 
waive their pre-emption rights.
There are legal, regulatory and practical reasons why it may not 
always be possible to issue new shares under a rights issue to 
some shareholders, particularly those resident overseas.  To 
cater for this, resolution 8 (at paragraph (a)), in authorising the 
directors to allot new shares by way of a rights issue, also permits 
the directors to make appropriate exclusions or arrangements to 
deal with such difficulties.
Under the Company's articles of association the board of directors 
may, with the sanction of an ordinary resolution, offer the holders 
of shares the right to receive shares, credited as fully paid, instead 
of cash in respect of the whole (or some part, to be determined 
by the board of directors) of such dividend or dividends as are 
specified by such resolution.  Paragraph (b) of resolution 8 asks 
shareholders to waive their pre-emption rights in respect of any 
such issue of shares.
Resolution 8 (at paragraph (c)) asks shareholders to waive their 
pre-emption rights, but only for new shares equal to 10 per 
cent. of the Company's issued ordinary share capital (excluding 
for these purposes the 945,203 shares held by the Company 
in treasury) as at the date of the notice of this meeting.  The 
directors will be able to use this power without obtaining further 
authority from shareholders before they allot new shares covered 
by it. However, by setting the limit of 10 per cent., the interests 
of existing shareholders are protected, as their proportionate 
interest in the Company cannot, without their agreement, be 
reduced by more than 10 per cent. by the issue of new shares 
for cash to new shareholders.  If the directors wish, other than by 
rights issue, to allot for cash new shares which would exceed this 
limit, they would first have to ask the Company's shareholders to 
waive their pre-emption rights in respect of that proportion of 
new shares which exceeds the 10 per cent. ceiling.  
The board of directors intends to adhere to the provisions in 
the Pre-Emption Group's Statement of Principles, as updated in 
March 2015, and not to allot shares for cash on a non pre-emptive 
basis pursuant to the authority in resolution 8(c):
(i)  in excess of an amount equal to 5 per cent of the total issued 
ordinary share capital of the Company excluding treasury shares; 
or
(ii) in excess of an amount equal to 7.5 per cent of the total issued 
ordinary share capital of the Company excluding treasury shares 
within a rolling three-year period, without prior consultation with 
shareholders,
in each case other than in connection with an acquisition or specified 
capital investment which is announced contemporaneously with 
the allotment or which has taken place in the preceding six-month 
period and is disclosed in the announcement of the allotment.
The power given by resolution 8 will, unless sooner revoked 
or renewed by the Company in general meeting, last until the 
conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the Company 
to be held in 2016.
Resolution 9 – Authority to purchase the Company's own 
shares
This resolution grants authority to the Company to make 
purchases of up to a maximum of 10% of the issued ordinary 
share capital of the Company (excluding for these purposes the 
945,203 shares held by the Company in treasury) as at the date 
of the notice of this meeting.
In certain circumstances it may be advantageous for the Company 
to purchase its ordinary shares.  The directors would use the 
share purchase authority with discretion and purchases would 
only be made from funds not required for other purposes and 
in light of market conditions prevailing at the time.  In reaching a 
decision to purchase ordinary shares, your directors would take 
account of the Company's cash resources and capital, the effect 
of such purchases on the Company's business and on earnings 
per ordinary share.
The directors have no present intention of using the authority.  
However, the directors consider that it is in the best interests of 
the Company and its shareholders as a whole that the Company 
should have flexibility to buy back its own shares should the 
directors in the future consider that it is appropriate to do so.
In relation to any buy back, the maximum price per ordinary 
share at which the Company is authorised in terms of resolution 
9 to effect that buy back is 5% above the average middle market 
price of an ordinary share for the five business days immediately 
preceding the date on which the buy back is effected.
The statutory provisions governing buy backs of own shares are 
currently contained in, inter alios, sections 693 and 701 of the 
Companies Act 2006.  iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015 84
Officers and Professional Advisers iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Directors
Ian Ritchie CBE, FREng, FRSE, FBCS, CEng, BSc Non executive chairman
Angus MacSween  Chief executive officer
Chris Batterham MA, FCA Non executive director 
Crawford Beveridge CBE Non executive director
Sarah Haran Director
Richard Logan BA, CA Director
Secretary 
Bruce Hall BAcc(Hons), CA
Registered office
Lister Pavilion, Kelvin Campus, West of Scotland Science Park, Glasgow G20 0SP
Nominated adviser and broker
Peel Hunt LLP, Moor House, 120 London Wall, London EC2Y 5ET
Principal Bankers
Lloyds Banking Group, Bank of Scotland plc, 235 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3EY
Solicitors
Shepherd & Wedderburn, 5th Floor, 1 Exchange Crescent, Conference Square, Edinburgh EH3 8UL
Pinsent Masons LLP, 141 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 7EQ
Independent auditors
Grant Thornton UK LLP, 95 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 7JZ
Registrars
Capita IRG plc, Bourne House, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 4TU
Company Registration Number
SC204560
85 iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015 86
Group Contact Information iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
iomart Group
0141 931 6400 • info@iomart.com • www.iomart.com
Easyspace
sales@easyspace.com • www.easyspace.com
Rapidswitch
sales@rapidswitch.com • www.rapidswitch.com
iomartcloud
info@iomartcloud.com • www.iomartcloud.com
Melbourne
inbox@melbourne.co.uk • www.melbourne.co.uk
Backup Technology
sales@backup-technology.co.uk • www.backup-technology.com
Redstation
sales@redstation.com • www.redstation.com
SystemsUp
info@systemsup.co.uk • www.systemsup.co.uk
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registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
Many charities and third sector organisations have selected iomart as their IT partner 
of choice, one of latest being the unique fundraising site Make a Donation, which is the 
only online giving site in the UK where 100% of the donations go direct to charity.
“Our site receives and processes donations 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so downtime is 
not an option. Our fundraisers and charities want to receive as much support and as many 
donations as possible so our service needs to be available at any time of day.”
David Finch, CEO, Make a Donation iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015
iomart’s Cloud Services unit which provides a range of cloud products, mainly 
through channel partners, has expanded  its reach to the USA, following our 
investment in cloud infrastructure and backup assets in that region during the year.
“Our aim is to do things differently in the IT reseller industry. We are working with 
best-of-breed partners to create exclusive working relationships that stand out for 
our customers. iomart was the natural choice for cloud services because of its secure 
infrastructure, its technical expertise and its financial stability.”
Chris Leigh, Director, TransACT Technology Solutions iomart Group plc Annual report and accounts 2015