A Teesside firm has narrowed its losses after diversifying into new areas.
Wilton Engineering - which hosted a famous visit from Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the 2019 General Election campaign - has issued accounts for the year ending June 2021 which show turnover increasing £6.1m to £10.8m. During the same period its losses came down from just over £1m a year earlier to £849,000.
The Middlesbrough firm, which last year added a 58-acre plot of land at Haverton Hill to its existing site, said its efforts to move into new markets and minimise its expose to the oil and gas sector had been successful, though the Covid pandemic had made it harder for new orders to come to fruition.
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The company also revealed that it had received an additional CBILS loan “to allow sufficient time to implement the strategy”. It said its current order book was forecast to increase in the current year and its “prospects remain strong”.
A spokesperson said: “As a result of exceptional hard work from management and workforce alike during this period, we have already seen an increase in new projects with a healthy order book and pipeline of opportunities, which includes long-term agreements with defence contractors.
“Coupled with the investment made in our facilities, with the addition of the Haverton Hill Facility, which almost doubles our riverside footprint within the Teesside Freeport to 112 acres, we are confident of returning to profit in our financial year ending 30 June 2022.
“This has been made possible by our continued diversification strategy to mitigate the downturn in oil and gas, which, although impacted by the pandemic that ran throughout this entire financial year and beyond, is delivering in terms of increased opportunities in sectors such as defence, wind, mining and nuclear.
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“These sectors are benefitting from our facilities and skills, which not only brought increased turnover, but laid the foundations for a strong and extensive order book for both Wilton Engineering and Universal Coatings.”
The company, which famously hosted Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the 2019 General Election campaign, saw its headcount rise from 47 to 58 during the accounts year.