The Response call centre and software business has reported a healthy rise in profit and is eyeing up acquisitions as it pushes ahead with a major rebrand.

The Glasgow company, subject of a management buy-out from Murray International Holdings in August last year, saw revenue rise 33 per cent in its most recent financial year from almost £25 million to £33.2m.

Accounts recently filed at Companies House for Response (Building Rewarding Relationships) will show pre-tax profits surged from £91,234 to £1.7m for the 12 months to June 30.

The business, which employs around 1,500, is shortly to change its name to Kura.

That is the name of the takeover vehicle chief executive Brian Bannatyne used to stage the buyout and also a play on cura, a Latin word for helpful.

Accounts for Kura (CS), covering the 10 months to June 30, will show £28.6m turnover and £2.4m profit.

Mr Bannatyne, the majority shareholder in Kura, said: “It has been a good first year with growth from existing clients and quite a few new clients both on the contact centre and software sides of the business.”

Existing clients included ScottishPower, Bank of America and esure while Response picked up work from the likes of Scotia Bank, AIG, Chubb and charity Turn 2 Us during the year.

The Inisoft business within Response makes customer management systems which are sold mainly in the Americas but is seeing growing popularity in Asia.

Mr Bannatyne said the business is considering acquisitions in both the contract centre and software markets at home and abroad as part of a long term bid to build the company to £100m turnover.

He said: “We are on the lookout for acquisitions. That is something historically which we have never been able to do. Financially secure and we have good backing from HSBC.

“We don’t want to buy something to get growth for growths sake. If we felt from a product perspective that something would help the stable of products at Inisoft we would look at that.

By the same token on the contact centre side if it was something which accelerates [our] strategies and gives us more UK capability and has a good client base we would consider it. Acquisitions tend to be quite expensive so it needs to be the right thing.”

Inisoft is currently around 10 per cent of the group’s total turnover but Mr Bannatyne says there is scope to grow the “highly profitable” subsidiary.

He also hopes to grow the contact centre business particularly as customers grow the amount of additional services, such as web chat and email responses, they are willing to outsource.

The current financial year has started off strongly with Response said to be trading ahead of forecast in both revenue and profit.

Mr Bannatyne, who joined Response in 2009, said that along with the new name he wants to instil an even greater focus on the people employed by the company.

That will include looking at areas such as improvements in the workplace, investment in training programmes and flexible working.

He said: “If you get the culture right and the training and skills are all there then that will add a lot of value.

“We want to be known as the best at managing and getting the best out of people.

“Contact centres value efficiency and flexibility over effectiveness. There is not enough time spent making people really good at the jobs they are doing and giving them the right tools to do the job.”

A move away from Response’s well known Citypoint base, which can be seen from the M8 in central Glasgow, is also under consideration.

Mr Bannatyne said: “For us longer term we might retain a bit of a city centre capability but maybe have something on the outskirts of Glasgow.

“You can get more space more cost effectively. It allows you to create the environment that you want to create, based on the people. In time that is something we would look at.”

Response was set up by Sir David Murray in 1991.