Strong growth for Spirax Sarco

Published by

Nicky Godding

Revenue has risen at Spirax Sarco Engineering, the multi-national industrial engineering group which has its headquarters in Cheltenham.

Figures released on 15 March show that revenue was close to £1 billion in 2017, up from £757 million in 2016, a rise of 32%.

Nicholas Anderson, Chief Executive, said: “"I am very pleased with the results delivered in 2017, which again demonstrate the robustness of our strategy and strong direct sales business model.

“We achieved good organic growth and excluding currency and acquisition effects, maintained the organic margin.”

The company made two major acquisitions last year. In April, it bought German company Gestra for £160 million. Gestra is a technology leader in advanced industrial boiler systems and specialises in the design and production of valves and control systems for steam and fluid process control.

In May Spirax Sarco acquired Chromalox for £319 million. The company is a well-established USA based provider of electrical products, systems and solutions for industrial process heating and temperature management.

The company’s Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology business had another strong year, which saw organic sales up 10%. The Spirax Sarco business also performed well with organic sales up 5%. Gestra, which is reported within the Spirax Sarco Steam Specialties division, performed in line with expectations as did Chromalox, which is reported as a separate division within the Spirax Sarco business.

Nicholas added: “The two acquisitions that we made in the year have been successfully brought into the Spirax Sarco Group and are progressing to plan. We increased investment in 2017 and, during 2018, we will again prioritise accelerating revenue and capital investments for growth over further margin expansion, to ensure that we continue delivering organic sales growth that outperforms our markets. Assuming no significant deterioration in trading conditions, the Board expects to make further progress in 2018."

The company’s pre-tax profit was £192.5 million.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.