Quartix Doubles New Fleet Tracking İnstallations İn The UK

Vehicle tracking specialist Quartix has announced it has more than doubled its new fleet tracking installations in the UK in the first half of 2011 compared with the same period last year.

The company is confident of registering further strong growth in both sales and installations in the second half, and expects sales growth of at least 60% over the year as a whole. Turnover is expected to reach £8million.

Commenting on the six-month performance, Quartix managing director, Andy Walters, said: “Response to our pay-as-you-go and 12-month rental contracts has been astonishing, boosting our fleet installations by 124% compared to the same period last year. We have installed more than 10,000 tracking systems in the UK in the first half, and are gaining at least 100 new fleet customers every month.

“Customers no longer want to sign third-party finance agreements over multiple years, because they are aware of the risks and costs associated with them. We still appear to be unique in the industry in having the financial strength and confidence to promote this direct rental approach, based on contracts of 12 months or fewer.

“We expect to increase our output again in the autumn, as we invest in further growth in France and in telematics for insurance applications. Over the past 12 months we have established a strong network of distributors in the UK, and intend replicating this model in France. Although it is still early days for us we have already won some significant French customers.

“We will maintain our focus on organic growth, which has served us well over the first 10 years of our company’s existence.

“Meanwhile, many of our competitors have been wrapped up in the completion of mergers and acquisitions over the past few years, which often leads to a degree of uncertainty among staff and customers alike. The effects of this, coupled with the removal of weaker players, create real market opportunities for organic growth, and we certainly believe that this is part of the reason we are growing at six times the market rate.”

Quartix, with offices at Newtown, Cambridge and Southampton, designs every aspect of its key technology, from telematics hardware to database and user applications. The company expects to launch a range of new software features focusing on driving behaviour and risk assessment in the early autumn, in addition to the release of its latest generation telematics system.