Subsea protection firm Tekmar has reported record-breaking growth figures after the company boosted its turnover by almost £10m during the first six months of the year.
Tekmar saw its turnover for the six months ending September 30 2019 jump to £17.1m, up from £7.1m during the same period a year earlier.
The business, which makes protection systems for underwater cables, also managed to increase its operating profit to £795,000, up from a loss of £1.6m in 2018.
Much of the growth at the firm was achieved as a result of Tekmar’s acquisition strategy, which it began carrying out after it floated on the London Stock Exchange.
Since its float Tekmar has bought Newton Aycliffe-based Subsea Innovation and London consultancy Ryder Geotechnical.
The firm also added a new product to its portfolio after acquiring Pipeshield, but this deal was completed in the second half of the year so was not included in the results.
Commenting on the figures, Tekmar CEO James Ritchie said: “We think strategically the business is ahead of where it would have been from the IPO.
“We are very confident we have done the acquisitions, and that strategy, while remaining debt free and with a positive balance sheet.”
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He added: “These were acquisitions that we targeted pre-IPO. We knew what we wanted and we had an ongoing relationship with the businesses.
"We hadn’t agreed terms but we made clear that we wanted some money as we wanted to go after these types of businesses.
“For that reason the integration has been seamless.”
He added: “£4.7m of that uplift was from acquisitions but organically the business is performing phenomenally as well.”
Along with the record revenue growth, Tekmar also managed to secure its largest ever order book of £15.9m during the six month period.
But the firm also managed to grow organically, with strong sales boosted by growing demand in the offshore market.
“The core underlying market is growing in offshore wind,” said Mr Ritchie. “It is growing but a little bit slower than we anticipated.”
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Much of the growth was achieved due to the company’s work in the Asia Pacific region, with contracts being won in China and Taiwan.
On top of the strong financial figures Tekmar was awarded the Green Economy Mark by the London Stock Exchange. The mark identifies companies and listed funds that generated between 50% and 100% of its revenues from products and services that contribute to the green economy.