Lingo24, the Edinburgh tech-enabled translation provider, became the UK’s third largest private translation company in 2017 on the back of a 29% increase in sales in its key ecommerce business and growth of 16% in larger accounts in 2017, driven by new business of £1.3m.
Overall sales were up by 8% to £9.5m. It is forecasting a return to significant profitability in 2018 after more than three years of heavy investment in its technology, senior management and sales teams.
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Unlike other mid-sized translation companies, Lingo24 combines strategic consultancy, proprietary technology and translation services. 70% of Lingo24’s revenue now comes from the company’s top 30 accounts (up from 53% in 2015), who are the primary users of this broader offering. Average annual spend among the top 30 accounts has increased by over 60% between 2015 and 2017. Brewdog, Hunter Boots and adidas are among the well known brands in its client base.
Commenting on the results, Christian Arno, Lingo24 Founder, said:
“These results reflect a huge amount of effort to transform our business into a serious partner to our clients. And to many of our customers, for whom Amazon is both an opportunity and a threat, there’s an increased sense of urgency to translating better. We’re now able to advise on best practice in technology selection and implementation in areas adjacent to translation, and support our customers as they build global teams to accelerate growth through global content.”
Lingo24’s software has matured significantly to the extent that it is now able to license it for external use. Its Machine Translation team is implementing new developments in this area to improve the productivity of professional translators quicker and more comprehensively than much larger competitors. The company’s consultancy offering allows it to identify and help address more strategic challenges as its customers translate more.
Lingo24 announced the opening of a sixth office in Amsterdam last year, and Arno says this is showing early promise:
“I’m spending a lot more time in the Netherlands this year and you can feel the energy about the place. Many international companies are locating their European ecommerce operations in Amsterdam, and I believe the uncertainty around Brexit has made some companies choose to undertake more projects there when the UK could have been an option. We’re excited to be hosting our first Journey to Global event in Amsterdam in April – a peer-to-peer learning event where our customers and prospects can learn from one another about how to overcome the myriad challenges involved in becoming ever more global”.
