ISP Zen Internet to Open New Office in Leeds and Add 83 UK Jobs

The Chairman (formerly CEO) of Rochdale based residential and business broadband ISP Zen Internet, Richard Tang, has revealed for the first time in a new video of his recent presentation to the London Internet Exchange (LINX) that the company intends to open a new office in the city centre of Leeds.

The ISP, which currently employs 490 staff (their existing building has capacity for over 1,000 people) and is home to around 126,000 broadband customers, is doing well financially. The company recently reported an annual turnover of £71m (up 11% on last year), with operating profit of £3m (up 55%) and EBITDA of £6m (up 19%) to the end of September 2018.

Going forward Zen has also made no secret (here) of their aim to become a £100m business within 3 years and a £250m one within 10 years. In keeping with that Richard has now revealed that the ISP expects to add another 83 jobs in the next 12 months but not all of them will be going to the ISP’s existing HQ.

Instead the Chairman said they were “just about to open another office in the city centre of Leeds” (see the 16+ minute mark in the video below), which he said would help the ISP to expand their catchment area for getting the skills that they need to grow the business. This appears to be the first time that Zen has announced such a plan in public, although staff have known about it for a few months.

The following presentation also gives a good overview of Zen’s history and growth, as well as some of their future plans (e.g. SDWAN) and interests (e.g. AI).