Coal demand drives ATB Morley forward once again
THE boom in demand for coal has helped manufacturer ATB Morley continue to relish robust results.
ATB Morley, which makes electric motors for use in harsh environments including mines and has also added replacement wind turbine generators and sub-sea generators to its portfolio, reported turnover of £29.6m for the year ended December 31 2012, up from £25.1m in 2011 and marking growth of 18%.
The business reported pre-tax profits of £2.8m and operating profit of £3m.
However, the firm, which has factories in Leeds and Bradford, saw order input take a plunge, which it said was because the global recession had a “significant” impact on the coal market.
The company said the order input was a “disappointing” £22.4m resulting in a standing order book at the start of 2013 of only £10.7m – almost £10m down on the same time the previous year.
ATB said: “The increase in turnover was a direct result again of the boom in global coal demand. The previous year’s record order input £30.3m provided a significant contribution towards the turnover for 2012, with £20m being loaded in the factory at the start of the year.”
The share of its output heading for China was 48.6%, almost static to last year’s figures, while Australian market revenues increased from £4m to £5.8m and the former Soviet area revenues increased from £2.4m to £3.2m.
The main market segment for the company’s products continues to be coal mining and the dominance has once again increased, from 88.5% of the turnover in 2011 to 93.3% of turnover in 2012.
ATB Morley captured five new customers in 2012, accounting for around £1.2m of orders. It said the most notable being for a tunnel boring application, a previously untapped market, and one that could grow significantly if this method of mine tunneling takes off as hoped by the customer.
During 2012, the company received its third Queen’s Award for Enterprise – International Trade category for once again doubling exports in three years. It also successfully applied for Regional Growth Fund support for research and development activities which could result in a grant of up to £1.2m over three years.
The Yorkshire firm said work is underway to develop new products from its current markets which will allow its entry into new markets to reduce reliance on the current core markets.
ATB Morley is a past winner of the Yorkshire Innovator award at the Yorkshire Business Masters awards.
The business, which dates back to 1897, has been owned by ATB Austria Antriebstechnik since 2004.
