The drive by European countries to secure their energy supplies in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has benefited Bath-based manufacturer Rotork as oil and gas producers invest in new equipment.
The firm, which designs and makes high-quality pipeline flow control equipment, also overcame the supply chain issues which had held new orders for the past few years.
As a result, annual pre-tax profits for last year climbed by 21.4% to £150.6m on revenues 12% ahead at £719.1m.
Its order intake increased 6.2% year-on-year to £723.7m. While all three of its divisions booked higher orders for the full year, water & power and oil & gas were strongly ahead, it said. The firm’s board said they remained confident of delivering on their financial ambition of mid-to-high single digit sales growth this year.
The strongest growth in regional sales by destination for its oil & gas division was in Europe and the Middle East, driven by significantly increased customer activity in Western Europe.
In the US one notable success was an order for its fluid power actuators to control valves at an innovative new blue hydrogen facility under construction in Louisiana. Blue hydrogen is produced from reforming natural gas, with resulting carbon dioxide captured and stored.
The capture unit at the Louisiana plant is designed to capture and permanently sequester more than 5m tonnes of carbon each year.
Rotork’s own environmental performance included reducing its emissions by 11% last year compared with 2022, reflecting the implementation of energy efficiency projects and investment in on-site renewable generation.
The group is targeting net zero by 2035 for scopes 1 and 2 – direct and indirect emissions.
Rotork chief executive Kiet Huynh said: “We continued to make significant progress in 2023 and delivered another year of strong organic sales growth, margin improvement and good cashflow performance,”
He said successes included supplying upstream oil & gas electrification, including methane emissions reduction, mining and metals processing focused on the battery value chain and water infrastructure.
