Engineering firm hits record turnover in ‘tough market’
INTEGRATED engineering services provider Ainscough Industrial Services is celebrating success amidst the UK’s under-pressure industrial sector after announcing a record turnover of £42m in 2015, reflecting 50% year on year growth.
The Wigan-headquartered and privately owned company, which employs 280 people across its 10 UK facilities, attributes this performance to the strategic integration of its numerous wholly-owned subsidiaries into one combined capital and maintenance-driven projects service provider over the last two years.
Its innovative move to overhaul and position its suite of specialist businesses – installation, mechanical, pipework, electrical, fabrication, technical lifting, logistics plus control and automation – as one full service offer, has come against a backdrop of what is describes as “incredibly challenging trading conditions”.
However, company has created more than 90 jobs over the past 12 months, representing a 30% increase in staff with local opportunities created across its UK bases – in Wigan, Preston, Rotherham, Birmingham, Retford, Glasgow, Bridgend, Bristol, Newcastle and Bath.
Chief executive Matt Ainscough, who purchased the company founded by his grandfather in 1982 from the family in 2010, has overseen turnover growth rise of more than £30m in the past five years and set his sights on further expansion, specifically in the food and beverage manufacturing market.
He believes the integration of AIS’s business services was vital for the company to flourish and represents an essential blueprint for the future of the M&E sector.
He said: “The built environment sector, let alone the M&E arena, is changing at an unprecedented rate, and we knew that in order to survive, let alone succeed, we couldn’t stand still.
“But rather than spread ourselves too thinly, we took a decision to add, then combine additional related capabilities in order to provide our clients with an all-encompassing front-facing offer.
“Rather than competing for, as an example, subcontracted pipework or heavy lifting contracts, we are winning bigger integrated contracts as ‘one team’ direct from clients across the entire UK.
“By doing so, we know we’re putting ourselves up against a much larger market of competitors in addition to those that we’ve faced traditionally, but we believe our combined specialisms make us a perfect fit for industries that require precise, technically complex and time-critical support, relevant to the entire industrial sector.
“The immediate impact of the realignment has been outstanding with sales at our pipework subsidiary up 60 per cent year on year (£6.5m). Likewise, we’re extremely proud and committed to continuing to build upon our UK wide footprint.”
AIS’s recent stand out successes include major projects for JLR , Associated British Ports, Cereal Partners UK and international food and beverage can manufacturer Stolle.
