Dundee-headquartered
Pryme Group, a leading provider of integrated manufacturing solutions, increased turnover and narrowed its losses in the financial year ending March 2020. The company recorded a turnover of £18.5 million with a gross profit of £3.26 million; compared to a turnover of £17.3 million and gross profit of £2.57 million in the previous year.
Pryme Group said that it was in a better position to weather the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic following significant restructuring and cost reductions undertaken to improve the profitability of the business.
Despite some positive signs of recovery from the protracted oil and gas downturn, trading conditions continued to be challenging as a significant portion of the group’s revenue is generated from customers in this market.
Kerrie Murray, CEO at Pryme Group (pictured), said: “With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic post year-end, Pryme Group swiftly adapted its operational sites and working practices to ensure safe continuity of operations and delivery of its backlog commitments entering financial year 2021.
“We also restructured our operations in anticipation of lower activity levels, particularly from oil and gas-based customers. We believe that with the restructure and diversity of the customer base across multiple industrial sectors, the group has enhanced its resilience level for what is expected to be a challenging market as the economy continues to recover.
“Against this backdrop, I’m extremely proud of how the team has pulled together and adapted to working throughout the past several months. Together with growth in our turnover and increased gross profit during the latest financial year, it demonstrates the resilience of our business in these unprecedented times.”
Pryme Group continued to focus on increasing manufacturing efficiency to maintain margins and position itself to benefit as and when the market improves. As a result, the operating cash loss for the year was £1,662,000, an improvement of £737,000 (31%) compared to 2019.
The business also invested more than £700,000 in new machinery, to improve operational efficiency, while there was an estimated spend of £1.87 million as it continued to invest in R&D to offer a wider range of products to its customers.
Ms Murray added: “These efforts have resulted in a considerable improvement in trading performance and the group is better placed to weather tougher market conditions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We continue to enjoy demand for our services from a broad customer base, including those operating in aerospace and defence, while the pandemic has accelerated our entry into new markets such as the pharmaceutical and healthcare equipment sectors.”
Pryme Group offers a complete turnkey service for global contract manufacturing, combining high-quality machining with design capability, project management, precision machining, fabrication, coatings, hydraulic services, assembly, and testing.
The business is majority-owned by Simmons Energy’s private equity fund, which was established in 2008 to support the growth of small to medium-sized energy service businesses.