AM Bid, Scotland’s largest bid and tender specialist, is on course to report a £1 million turnover for the first time after rebounding strongly from the effects of the national lockdown.

Like many businesses, the company faced some challenging times last year, particularly in spring 2020 following the pandemic outbreak and its impact on the global economy.

A restructure into a leaner operating model combined with a shift in focus to public sector contracts helped AM Bid withstand the most serious effects of the Covid-19 crisis.

Under the guidance of owner and business development director Andrew Morrison and managing director David Gray, the company has continued to recover well to post record revenues for the half-year to March 2021.

The change in approach during lockdown saw the business finish last year strongly, reporting its best-ever quarter for revenue for October-December 2020 of £273,734, with the positive trend having continued.

Bolstered by its best ever month for revenue in March of £108,369, the firm’s six-month revenue from October 2020-March 2021 stands at £543,491, up 13.3% on last year and ahead of the budgeted figure by 46.1%. Net profit before tax for the same period was 20.1%, sitting at £109,799.

“We are seeing a steady increase in demand for our services as many businesses look to bounce back and rebuild through winning new business,” said Mr Gray.

“In particular, we are supporting an ever-increasing number of organisations looking to bid for public sector contracts as sources of reliable, long-term revenue.

“Having had to make some very difficult decisions in 2020, we are now growing again, by revenue and by head count. The demand has seen our continued regrowth and we have gone from having a reduced number of five staff last summer to having 11 today, including one Kickstart employee with a further two to be recruited imminently.

“We are rebuilding a very strong team of professionals, built on a highly experienced core of bidding and tender experts. I would like to thank all of my dedicated colleagues for their hard work and ongoing commitment during challenging times for them all, professionally and personally.

“This has enabled us to meet an increased demand for our work-winning expertise, helping our clients regrow and build back, whilst achieving record financial results ourselves.”

AM Bid is also pleased to report it now has six Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) Certified Practitioners in its team with Philip Thomson, Chantelle Seaborn, Jeanette Shaw and Oliver Luhrs all having recently attained the qualification.

As it continues to plan for the future, the company’s resilience allows it to look forward with optimism.

Mr Gray added: “We will continue to grow and develop our people and our services to meet the demand from our clients.

“We are also working on an exciting new offering which will help support SMEs in bidding for and winning public sector contracts, which many small and medium-sized businesses in particular find very challenging to manage themselves, due to the often-complex tender processes.”