North-east pipeline technology specialist Stats (UK) has shaken off Covid challenges to rake in higher earnings.
Pre-tax profits raced ahead to more than £1 million in the calendar year 2020, from around £183,000 in the previous 12 months, while turnover surged by nearly 9% to £42.5m.
Stats, which runs operations globally from headquarters in Kintore, Aberdeenshire, also highlighted a strong Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) performance.
Ebitda hit £6.5m last year, up from £5.6m in 2019, despite the pandemic crippling much of the global economy.
Our long-term investment in regional teams and infrastructure allowed us to be much more resilient to the economic and social challenges posed during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Leigh Howarth, Stats (UK) chief executive
Stats said its profits growth was largely due to continued investment in international infrastructure.
“Responsive” regionalised management teams and localised workforces are “strategically located close to key global markets”, a spokesman for the firm added.
Annual accounts for Stats noted that 88% of revenue was generated beyond the company’s home market.
A major breakthrough in the North American pipeline sector was reflected in revenue growth of 51% in the US, up by £4m to £12m.
Record revenue in Canada
To support further growth across the Atlantic, Stats recently moved its US operations to larger premises in Houston, Texas, while increased product sales and fabrication capabilities in Edmonton, Alberta, delivered record trading revenue of £6.7m in Canada.
Stats chief executive Leigh Howarth, said: “Our long-term investment in regional teams and infrastructure allowed us to be much more resilient to the economic and social challenges posed during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, when many national borders were closed and movement was restricted.
“Not only has the strategy to localise been vital in building resilience during this most challenging period, but it gives us the platform for a bright, scalable future and is testament to the sustainability of our business.”
Stats, founded in 1998 by angel investor Lorraine Porter and her brother, Pete Duguid, won the company of the year title at the 2020 Energy Industries Council Awards.
Its main activity is the supply of pressurised pipeline isolation, hot tapping and plugging services to the global oil, gas and petrochemical industries.
As well as Kintore and North America, the firm has operations in Abu Dhabi, Oman and Qatar in the Middle East, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
The number of people employed by Stats at the end of last year totalled 281, up from 234 a year earlier as it bucked a trend of headcount reductions across much of the energy industry.
BGF on board to support growth
Banking sector-backed BGF, formerly the Business Growth Fund, injected £7.8m into the business in 2012 and then a further £4.3m in a follow-up investment in 2015.
Control of Stats is shared among its directors, including Mr Howarth, Mr Duguid and chairman Graeme Coutts, the former Expro chief executive and energy industry veteran who sits on the boards of a string of BGF portfolio companies.
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