Ashtead Technology, of Westhill, near Aberdeen, has reported a record-busting first half performance and a big jump in headcount.
Adjusted pre-tax profits at the international subsea technology firm skyrocketed to £14.3 million during the six months to June 30, up 89% year-on-year. Revenue surged by 57.1% to £49.8 million.
Sales to clients in the offshore renewables sector rose by 74.1% to £16.3m, from £9.4m a year earlier. Offshore oil and gas revenue was up by 50%, at £33.5m.
Ashtead’s share up almost 6%
Shares in Ashtead, which joined the London Stock Exchange in November 2021, were up more than 7% at £4.20 by market close.
Chief executive Allan Pirie said: “I am extremely pleased to announce our strongest ever set of interim results. We have continued to see positive momentum through the first half of 2023, with the group benefiting from our strategic investment in people and equipment, together with further increases to both utilisation and pricing.
“Our recent acquisitions of Hiretech and WeSubsea have performed ahead of our expectations, and we are benefitting from our increased breadth of capabilities.
“Market fundamentals remain strong and we continue to expand our offering, whilst growing within our existing markets.”
Ashtead on track to beat full-year forecasts
Ashtead expects the pace of growth to “moderate” in the second half but full-year figures for 2023 are forecast to be comfortably ahead of our previous expectations.”
Mr Pirie added: “Our HY23 results and positive end market dynamics give the board increased confidence in the outlook for the business.”
Ashtead says its specialist equipment, advanced-technologies and support services allow customers to “understand the subsea environment and manage offshore energy production infrastructure”.
The company’s technology and services are used across the lifecycle of offshore wind farms, as well as oil and gas infrastructure.
Global headcount is currently 396, up from 289 on June 30 and 11% higher than in December 2022. In Aberdeenshire, the current total employee headcount is 203.
The company has operations in Westhill, Fintray and Inverurie, as well as overseas locations in the US, Canada, United Arab Emirates and Singapore.
Ashtead announced its £20m acquisition of Aberdeen-based equipment rental, service and maintenance company Hiretech from its founder and chief executive, Andy Buchan, last December. That deal followed hot-on-the heels of Ashtead buying Norwegian firm WeSubsea for £5.6m.
In today’s results statement, the northeast company said: “Integration of both WeSubsea and Hiretech into the Ashtead Technology group has progressed well. Both businesses have performed ahead of expectations, demonstrating a combined 38.6% growth in revenues year-on-year.
Last year’s acquisitions have led to more international opportunities
“Both acquisitions are highly complementary to our mechanical solutions business and we have witnessed an increase in both cross-selling and international opportunities.
“The WeSubsea brand has been retained in relation to the equipment only and we are in the process of fully phasing out the Hiretech brand name in support of our one route to market approach.”
Ashtead added: “These acquisitions are great case studies of the benefits of our M&A strategy and approach to integration and we continue to build on the M&A (mergers and acquisitions) pipeline as one of our key growth strategies.”
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