Major Cheltenham employer is on course for record revenue and profit

One of Cheltenham’s biggest private employers has declared itself on course for record levels of revenue and profit in 2021.

Global engineering giant, Spirax Sarco, which has an estimated 1,000 staff in Gloucestershire and thousands more worldwide, reported a 4.9 per cent growth in its third quarter of 2021.

The firm said it expected its full-year growth to be 7.4 per cent, slightly down on earlier predictions of 8.6 per cent due to ‘disruptions in the global supply chain, leading to material shortages and rising costs.’

But in a statement reporting its trading figures from July to October 2021, the business, which is an expert in thermal energy management and pumping technology, predicted a positive end to the year.

Spirax Sarco said: ‘We continue to experience very strong demand across the group, with order books in all three businesses expanding in the four months to the end of October above our expectations at the time of the half year results.

‘We are maintaining our overall guidance despite the supply chain challenges in the second half of the year and expect record levels of revenue, profit and operating margin for the full year 2021.’

Full-year revenue in 2020 was £1,193.4 million, down from £1,242,4 million in 2019.

Significant demand in 2021 has come from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector, and Spirax Sarco’s order book also now includes the US Navy, which reportedly made the largest single order in the group’s history.

Spirax Sarco said its business remains ‘highly cash generative’ with ‘a strong balance sheet.’

Its net borrowings at the end of October 2021 was £131 million, down from £193 million at the end of June 2021.

By Andrew Merrell

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