Rugged smartphone firm Bullit Group has cut a quarter (50) of its workforce as its founders look to return the firm to growth.
Mobile News contacted Bullitt and was referred to a report from The Telegraph. Bullit creates mobile phones under licences from brands Land Rover and construction company Caterpillar.
Bullitt founders Colin Batt, Dave Floyd and Richard Wharton acquired the company back from private equity firm Exponent in March, 18 months after selling.
Exponent bought a 63pc stake in the British smartphone manufacturer for £100m then. At the same time Bullitt reported a sales loss from $200m (£163.5m) in 2017 to $151m (£123.2) in 2018. Bullitt reported a loss of $38.7m last year.
Batt said the since buying out Exponent the company has seen revenue growth and have injected $5m (£4m) in new invest from the British Growth Fund.
But 50 staff had to be cut as part of plans to turnaround the company’s financials. Bullitt is aiming for positive revenue growth this year and good profitability mid next year.
“When we arrived there were over 200 people now we are down to 150 people,” said Batt, “which was very painful”.
He added: “One of the issues we have right now is producing enough phones, we have right-sized the overheads and are refreshing the portfolio.”
“We expect to see growth back in the revenue this year, but certainly back into good profitability by mid next year.”
