When Tom Burnet was brought in as chief executive of queue-busting technology company LO-Q (LON:LOQ) last summer he quickly realised that there was more than one reason to drive the company forwards. As the father of two young children, Burnet shares the dread of many parents when it comes to tortuously long waits for rides at theme parks. He is now behind big plans to capitalise on Lo-Q’s achievements in recent years and spread the use of technology that can help users literally jump the queue. But while new sales and new clients are a top priority for the ex-MD of Serco’s (LON:SRP) defence operations, he is also eyeing the potential to expand into new markets.

Lo-Q started life in the mid-1990s when founder Leonard Sim conceived an answer to the perennial misery of theme park queuing – click here for more details about the company’s past developments. Hand-held devices known as Q-bots offer the chance for visitors to reserve a seat on a ride and while away the hours elsewhere before jumping the queue at their allotted time. The company’s product range now boasts Q-Bots, Q-txt and Q-credits and new updates and initiatives are in the pipeline. Those products are backed up by a team of more than 500 service staff at the company’s customer parks around the world – among them including Six Flags (NYSE:SXFL) and Dollywood in the US, Mirabilandia in Spain and Legoland in the UK.

Lo-Q has been turning a profit since 2007 with revenues growing every year since. In 2010, sales were up 16% to £20.3m and pre-tax profits were up 18.4% at £2.3m. However, the arrival of Burnet was a statement of intent by the company’s board that the company could be achieving more. He is now keen to ratchet up new sales and explore the prospect of applying Lo-Q technology in new markets – and the initial signs are promising. The Lo-Q share price is trading at a new high of 155p

Tom, you joined Lo-Q in October last year. What was the attraction and what potential did you see in it?

Good question – lots of things. First of all the attraction was that it wasn’t in the FTSE 100 (UKX) and having worked for a couple of big companies for the last seven or eight years…

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