Dyson warns lack of engineers may force exodus

DYSON, the eponymous vacuum cleaner maker, made record profits last year but has warned that a lack of skilled engineers in Britain may one day force the company abroad.

New products such as bladeless fans and eco-friendly hand dryers helped lift operating profits at the Wiltshire-based firm by 9 per cent to £206 million last year.

Revenues also jumped 15 per cent to £887m, which chairman and founder Sir James Dyson attributed to the company’s heavy spending on research.

The group upped its development spending to £45m in 2010 and wants to double the number of engineers at its Malmesbury research centre to 700, but Dyson warned that unless the UK starts to produce more engineers it could be forced to look abroad and even possibly move.

“There are not enough engineers coming out of universities,” he said, adding that both Iran and the Philippines produce twice as many engineering graduates.

His concerns will be a worry for the UK government as it sees exports as a key plank of its recovery strategy for the economy. The Conservatives appointed Dyson technology tsar in 2009.

Profits last year were buoyed by strong demand for the new Air Multiplier fans, while the latest version of its cordless vacuum cleaner completely sold out.