Executives at SME reseller Çedilla Systems are hoping to almost double its growth next year, following a management buy-out (MBO) of the company.

Çedilla's managing director, Mike Dickson, said the company has grown by more than a quarter every year since it was founded in 1991.

"After the MBO, with additional funds, we hope to grow by more than 40 per cent next year," he said. The firm's management team all contributed to the MBO.

Dickson added that Çedilla's next phase of growth would come through expanding into new verticals, such as the public sector.

"If you look at many of the IT suppliers in the late 1990s, they all went vertical and developed products to support certain industries," he said.

Vertical markets are ideal because small and nimble resellers have more flexibility to create bespoke products and services, Dickson claimed.

He said: "Customers do not want general products. They want suppliers that understand their businesses and needs, and how IT can help them."

Dale Vile, services director at analyst Quocira, said the public sector was a good market to target. "It's a very fertile area at the moment, with lots of funding being made available from the government, right down to local authorities," he said.

But Vile warned: "There is increasing competition as more and more firms realise this. But if resellers are smart and find out exactly how the sector works it can be fruitful for them."

Steve Derbyshire, managing director of services and software reseller Telamon, said a growing proportion of his firm's business over the past three years had come from vertical markets.

"If you can provide particular products for specific purposes, the vertical market is where you want to be," he said.