Softcat is a Marlow-based

IT infrastructure Information technology infrastructure is defined broadly as a set of information technology (IT) components that are the foundation of an IT service; typically physical components (computer and networking hardware and facilities), but also variou ...

provider founded by Peter Kelly in 1993. The company is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

and it is a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The FTSE 250 Index ( "Footsie") is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions and demotions to and from the index occur quarterly in March, June, Septemb ...

History

1993–2015: Softcat as a limited company

Founded originally as Wardswift, Softcat was founded by Peter Kelly on 30 March 1993 in

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

, under its original business name 'Software Catalogue'. In December 2005, Martin Hellawell became

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

(later CEO) of the company. In April 2006, the company moved its headquarters to Marlow.

2015–present: Softcat as a public limited company

The company was the subject of an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

on the

in November 2015. In March 2016, the company was promoted to the

. In March 2018, Hellawell stepped down as CEO and became chairman. On 1 April 2018, Hellawell was replaced by Graeme Watt as CEO. In 2016, Softcat opened an office in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland making it the company's first office outside of England. In 2018, it announced that it would be opening an office in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

making it the company's first office outside of the United Kingdom. In October 2019 Softcat opened its ninth office, in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. Since then, Softcat has opened international offices in Washington DC, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Amsterdam.

Explain IT Podcast

On 14 March 2018, Softcat launched a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

, Explain IT. During its first season, Explain IT charted at Number 39 on the UK

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

podcast chart. In December 2018, Softcat announced on its podcast feed that it would be launching a second season in January 2019. On 3 January 2019, Explain IT launched its second season. On 4 July 2019, Explain IT won the award for 'Best Marketing Campaign' at the 2019 CRN Sales and Marketing Awards.

Season 1

Season 2

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Companies based in Buckinghamshire Privately held companies of the United Kingdom 1993 establishments in the United Kingdom Technology companies established in 1993 Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange