ITPS

Who owns ITPS?

ITPS has Beechbrook Capital on file as a lender through UK SME Credit III (2021 vintage), financing since 2021. Its equity owner is not tracked by GP Intel yet.

Hand-verified · updated 2026-05-27

About ITPS

ITPS is a North East England managed IT services provider that delivers cloud, cyber security, managed and professional services, unified communications, data and analytics, and colocation from its own high-security data centre. The company runs a purpose-built, ISO 27001-certified Tier 3 facility in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, which hosts around 840 virtual machines and close to a petabyte of storage for its clients and operates at a Power Usage Effectiveness of 1.2, well below the UK average. Its customer base spans health and social care, education, manufacturing and logistics, housing, legal and financial services, charities and the wider public sector, many of whom the firm says have been clients for two decades. ITPS employs more than 200 staff and positions itself as a full-stack regional alternative to on-premises IT, combining strategic consultancy with owned infrastructure. It trades under the strapline "intelligent technology, practical solutions."

Ownership journey

ITPS was founded in 2000 in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, by Garry Sheriff, who built the business from IT consultancy into an infrastructure-led managed services provider anchored by a roughly GBP 4 million private data centre. The company remains management-controlled, with Sheriff and long-serving colleagues holding the equity through the group's holding structure rather than a private equity sponsor. In 2021 Beechbrook Capital provided debt financing to ITPS through its UK SME Credit III fund, a senior secured lending vehicle aimed at non-sponsored lower mid-market UK companies, supporting the management team's buyout and growth ambitions rather than taking ownership of the business. Beechbrook is a private debt manager, so the facility sits alongside management equity as financing, not an acquisition, and no exit or secondary transaction has been recorded. Leadership passed to a new generation in September 2025, when Nicola Johns, a 14-year veteran of the business, was appointed Chief Executive Officer under chairman John Harris to lead the next phase of growth.

Under PE ownership

The 2021 Beechbrook financing supported ITPS as a management-led, non-sponsored business pursuing organic growth and continued investment in its owned infrastructure. Since then the company has expanded its headcount from roughly 135 to more than 200 people and deepened its data centre capability, running around 840 virtual machines and near a petabyte of customer storage at a world-class efficiency rating. It broadened its portfolio beyond traditional managed services into cloud, cyber security and data and analytics, and secured a place on a key government procurement framework to reach public sector buyers. The period also delivered an orderly leadership transition, with founder Garry Sheriff stepping back from day-to-day command and Nicola Johns promoted to CEO in September 2025 to drive the stated growth strategy. Throughout, ITPS has remained independent and management-controlled, using debt financing rather than an equity sale to fund its expansion.