QUEEN’S AWARD-WINNING MANUFACTURER HAILS YEAR OF GROWTH

A Queen’s Award-winning manufacturer has reported growth in its latest accounts, despite the challenges presented by the pandemic. Further expansion is targeted with the group’s new ‘Factory of the Future’ in Rotherham.

AES Engineering is the holding company of AESSEAL, AVT Reliability Ltd, AVT Pump Ltd, ProPack Dichtungen und Packungen AG among others. It has bases in 230 locations worldwide, supplying customers in 104 countries, and employs more than 1,800 people across the globe.

Recently filed accounts for AES Engineering Ltd show turnover of £195.1m was achieved in the year ending 31 December 2021, up from £179.7m in 2020.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 28.1 per cent to £46m from £35.9, with pre-tax profit up to £36.9m from £27m the year before.

During 2021, the group acquired Canadian asset condition monitoring specialist JAtech Services. Following the end of the financial year, it established a new company in Canada, AES Edmonton, which has acquired the trade and assets of Performance Compression and Sealing (PCS).

The group also announced the launch of AESSEAL NSW Pty Ltd after acquiring a 60 per cent share of Stevco Seals and Pumps PTY and Australian Engineering Sales and Service Pty Ltd (AESS).

In April 2021, AES Engineering won its 14^th Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category. It subsequently won a 15^th award in 2022, with AESSEAL recognised for Sustainable Development.

Chris Rea CBE, managing director of AES Engineering Ltd group and AESSEAL, told Insider: “The business has performed magnificently and continued to grow during a global pandemic and one of the most difficult economic periods ever. It’s a tribute to the resilience and dedication of our staff in the UK and globally and the confidence that our customers continue to place in us.

“Business growth and excellent customer service must always be a focus but the environment has become a major priority and is occupying an increasing amount of my personal attention. We have been supporting the Betterworld.Solutions philanthropic project aimed at encouraging global industry to adopt an investment policy to prevent global warming. We reached Net Zero in our UK business in 2020 and in the global business in 2021. We have pledged £29m of environmental investment between now and 2029 and we have just received a Queen’s Award for sustainable development.”

A total of 175,000 sq ft of new factory buildings are being constructed as part of AESSEAL’s ‘Factory of the Future’ at Mill Close in Rotherham.

Chris Rea added: “We like to say that the future starts now. Our new ‘Factory of the Future’ in Rotherham, which includes £5.8m of investment in energy-saving or other environmental investment, is taking shape.

“We are actively campaigning globally to encourage the pulp and paper industry, just to take one example, to adopt known technology to save water, energy and cut their carbon footprint. Otherwise we are looking at future technologies including AI and robotics, leveraging the skills of our fantastic staff to meet our vision of being the best reliability company in the world.”