Plexus continues expansion drive on the back of record revenues

By DOMINIC JEFF
Published on 16/10/2012 10:16

OFFSHORE engineering firm Plexus said it was continuing a recruitment drive after posting record figures earlier today, as its patent wellhead system continued to gain traction with oil and gas majors.

The Aberdeen-headquartered firm, which pioneered the “Pos-Grip” friction-based method of wellhead engineering, reported a 27.8 per cent increase in revenue for the year to 30 June, to £19.7 million. Profit before tax nearly doubled, to £3.1m from £1.57m the year before.

Finance director Graham Stevens said the firm was growing as fast as the recruitment and training of technicians allowed. He said staff levels had increased 25 per cent in the last financial year and grown by a further

7 per cent since the year end, to more than 120.

The firm subcontracts its manufacturing and is building up a “fleet” of equipment that can be deployed to produce a wellhead system that meets the demands of regulators concerned about safety following BP’s Gulf of Mexico disaster.

Stevens said: “We are building a record number of additional wellhead sets, we are continuing to recruit staff and we are continuing to grow to meet demand.

“We see no reason why we can’t continue to expand our rental fleet, and take on the staff to deploy it.”

He said most of the new workers would be based in Aberdeen, but the firm also has small bases in Egypt, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Brunei.

The company is financing its growth mostly out of cashflow, although it also has a £6m banking facility that it has barely used. The group secured £260,000 of investment from oil explorer Maersk this year to develop a version of its system that works at higher pressures and temperatures, and is also working on an underwater wellhead capability, which it believes will increase its target market considerably.