Group revenues rise at listed engineering business
Pressure Technologies, a Sheffield-based specialist engineering business, has recorded group revenue of £14.5m (2020: £13.9m) in its interim results for the 26 weeks to 3 April 2021.
The group, which operates across two divisions – Chesterfield Special Cylinders (CSC) and Precision Machined Components (PMC) – also made a reported profit before tax of £0.2m (2020: loss £1.5m).
Overall Group revenue was 4% higher than the prior period, with a strong performance from CSC more than offsetting continued weakness in PMC.
A strong defence order book underpinned a 79% increase in revenue for CSC and an increase in adjusted EBITDA to £3.3m (2020: £0.7m)
But oil and gas trading conditions resulted in a 58% reduction in revenue for PMC and a negative adjusted EBITDA of £0.6m (2020: positive EBITDA £0.7m).
The business says investment in people and production facilities to support hydrogen growth has continued at the CSC Sheffield site, adding that this will deliver “significant capacity increases” by the end of 2022.
Chief executive, Chris Walters, said: “The backdrop of COVID-19 related challenges continues to impact the outlook in the second half.
“In Chesterfield Special Cylinders, project delays have affected the outlook for Integrity Management deployments, while defence contract phasing, late steel deliveries and several delayed customer orders are also expected to push significant revenue and margin from the second half of FY21 into FY22.
“However, the order book in Chesterfield Special Cylinders remains strong and momentum continues to gather in the fast-developing hydrogen energy market, with over £1.4m of refuelling station contract wins since December 2020 and improving visibility of future demand.
“The Group has also secured its first order with Shell under the five-year framework agreement announced in June 2020.
“Despite the impact of operational delays in Chesterfield Special Cylinders and the slower than expected recovery in the oil and gas market affecting Precision Machined Components, the Board remains confident in the prospects and opportunities for the business in the medium term.”
