Drone firm reaches new heights with latest results

A Livingston-based engineering firm harnessing drone technology that has worked with the likes of ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and SSE, has cheered the most successful year in its ten-year history, with turnover up by a third.

The Livingston firm specialises in drone inspection and visual asset management software. Picture: submitted.

Cyberhawk said turnover for the year ended 31 March came in at £4 million, and profits just under £700,000, “significantly” up on the previous year.

In addition, Cyberhawk Inc in the US grew turnover three-fold. More than a third of the Scottish firm’s revenues are now from overseas and robust growth is expected to continue, with first projects completed in the Caribbean and South America.

To date, Cyberhawk has completed in excess of 30,000 flights in more than 30 countries, with clients that also include the likes of ConocoPhillips, Network Rail, Siemens Gamesa and National Grid USA.

It also expanded its team by 26 per cent on the previous year, with 53 employees in 2017-18. In 2018-19, the company has continued this growth with a further seven staff added to the team.

Highlights in 2017-18 include a world first inspection at a US nuclear plant, and securing accreditation from the American Bureau of Shipping for its internal tank inspection offering.

The company also won a three-year framework with one of the UK’s largest renewable operators, “which added to a growing number of agreements secured with multinationals”, while its proprietary visual asset management software, iHawk, netted a three-year contract with an oil and gas supermajor to support the construction of petrochemical plant megaproject.

Chief executive Chris Fleming said: “We are extremely pleased with the progress made in our last financial year, which has been bolstered by a number of major achievements and successful development of some industry-changing solutions.

“We have spent the last ten years proving that drones generate major efficiencies in terms of cost, time and safety and it has been encouraging to see the number of operators embracing this technology rapidly increase.

“The future of the drone inspection and asset management industry is very bright and thanks to the pace of technology development, and positive changes to legislation, we expect this year and beyond to bring many more exciting developments. The Cyberhawk team is proud to have led many of the industry’s biggest milestones and we will continue this theme by investing in our people and our technology.”