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One of Angus’ largest employers is looking to expand its staffing levels to more than 500 and hit sales of £20 million in 2026.

ESP Group chief executive Ashley Meston was appointed to her role in February, after almost 20 years with the customer contact company which operates Journeycall in Arbroath.

But she soon realised the cultures and values espoused by the firm were wants she wanted to be a part of and rose through the company’s ranks.

ESP Group’s staff handle millions of phone calls each year for Transport for London, including all inquiries relating to its Oyster cards.

The company posted pre-tax profits of £2.7 million to July 31 2025 while turnover for the firm topped £17.4 million an increase of 30% on 2024.

The business is targeting even more growth in 2026 and wants to see turnover hit £20 million.

This month the company secured a hat-trick of major new contracts, including a place on the Crown Commercial Transport Framework, Transport for London and Chiltern Railways.

ESP Group also won contracts for NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) and to supply more than 140,000 key cards for the Caledonian Sleeper.

New opportunities are in the pipeline and while the company is remaining tight-lipped over where they will be, it is expected more transport clients will be coming on board.

“We are projecting £20 million in turnover by nest year,” Ashley said.

“There are two or three opportunities in the pipeline that we should hear about in quarter one of the calendar year, certainly before the end of the financial year.  There is a high probability of success securing these.

“With that we would be looking to expand the team to more than 500 members, which would be the highest our staff levels have ever been.”

While technology and AI will be utilised as part of the customer service experience, Ashley says, at the end of the day, people just want someone to sort their problems out as quickly as possible.

“I think it would be easy to say people are more demanding and they want this, that and the other.

“At the end of the day, and certainly for the clients and the services we deliver into, someone has a problem and all they want is for you to take care of them.

“They want their call or email answered quickly, a sensible response and ownership of their problem.

“I would say we have learned the lesson of some of the early adopters of AI and automation.  We deliver into some vulnerable populations where a technology solution just isn’t going to work.

“However, we’re realistic in that costs continue to rise and it’s difficult when we’re dealing with a lot of public sector customers with limited budgets, so we need to do something to make the books balance.

“Where I see (AI use) most of all is as an enabler, using a chatbot or AI to input information before speaking to someone.”

Ashley succeeded Theresa Lawson, who owns the business.

She says it has been a steep learning curve, but is excited for the next 12 months.

Like her predecessor, Ashley joined the company in 2007 and never envisaged becoming CEO.

“I moved back from university to stay with my mum and dad, who said I needed to get a job.

“I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do.

“When I applied for a job at Journeycall, I thought that will do until I get a ‘real’ job and that’s been it.

“It will be 19 years in 2026.”

This article appeared in The Courier on 5 January 2026