Seven up for Clarke Energy as profits rise

CLARKE Energy, the international business specialising in the sale, engineering, installation and maintenance of gas power plants, has reported record results.

The group, founded by the Clarke family – who are still running the Knowsley-based business – is backed by private equity firm ECI Partners.

Acquisitions in the year to the end of October 2013 – the first year after ECI’s investment – helped Clarke Energy report a seventh year of sales and profit increases.

A Knowsley business that installs and maintains plant and machinery used in power stations around the world has seen its sales and profits hit record highs for the seventh year in a row.

Turnover climbed nearly 10% to £225.7m, while pre-tax profits before tax were 7% up at  £16.7m.

In a statement published in the accounts, chairman Jim Clarke said: “The world economy appears to be showing signs of increased confidence but remains a long way from where we were before 2007.

“The fact that our business has continued to grow before, during and since the crisis is testament to the benefits of our strategy for geographical diversification and building long term customer relationships. The last 12 months have seen significant steps forward in delivering this strategy.”

During the year, the company made two acquisitions of similar businesses in Bangladesh and South Africa. Clarke Energy now has offices and employees in 16 countries and the company says it is “active in developing opportunities in many more.”

Looking ahead, Mr Clarke, whose son Jamie is chief executive, said: “We continue to look to the future with confidence and expect next year to once again be a record year for Clarke Energy.”

This week Clarke said it had won another key piece of work overseas, this time to build and run a temporary power station for a major civil engineering project in Queensland, Australia.