Tyneside industrial supplier Parmley Graham is toasting a 17% leap in profits to £1.3m after a year of investing in new staff and facilities.
Parmley Graham was first launched in Gateshead in 1903 and initially helped the burgeoning coal, shipbuilding and steel companies of the era, ensuring customers had overhead travelling cranes, drum controls and other control and automation systems in place.
Over the decades, however, the firm has had to diversify and keep ahead of new technology to help new types of customers involved in everything from food production and packaging to engineering and car manufacturing.
The company, which has 11 sites around the 海角视频 stocked with automation equipment made by a raft of manufacturers, has now published results showing an 8% lift in sales, from £45.5m to £49.1m.
Operating profit also increased from £1.15m to £1.326m, with profit for the financial year coming in at £1.018m, a rise of 17% on the previous year’s £869,000. Pre-tax profit also rose from £1.064m to £1.249m.
The workforce grew from 102 to 110 employees, with the wages bill rising from £5.26m to £5.44m for the year.
In his strategic report, chairman Michael Wilson paid tribute to the staff for helping the firm to rack up another rise in sales and profits.
He also detailed how the firm had paid attention to its buildings, “their equipment and of course our wonderful people”, with a move into a new base in Woking, Surrey, as well as the relocation of the branch in Swansea into new premises, plus refurbishment of its Stockport branch.
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Investment is also now being made at its Gloucester building.
In the report, Mr Wilson said: “We continue to invest in people and support business growth by having access to the very latest world class products and expert people to sell them.
“Our dynamic organisation has risen to the challenge of appointing eight more people during the year with the necessary technical skills and right attitude to keep us moving forward, taking exciting ground breaking technology into new markets.
“In April we opted to enhance the Government’s requirement on increased pension contributions which is a good investment and pleased everyone, but added to the salary; however the prospect of income improvement is good.”
Mr Wilson uses the report to take a swipe at the Government, but says he has remained positive on Brexit so far.
He said: “Early in the new accounting period I am happy to report that growth continues at a similar level, although the pound has strengthened a little and the politicians are still vacillating.
“Since the ‘B’ word came into our vocabulary in 2016, I have managed to stay positive about our national plight and indeed I remain so, though our leaders can never be forgiven for their ineptitude and prevarication.”
Directors paid out an interim dividend of £627,608 during the year.