Pressure Technologies loss narrowed as sales soar

Pressure Technologies on Tuesday reported narrower full year losses after double-digit revenue growth.

The specialist engineering group booked a loss before tax of £0.5m, compared with a loss of £1.7m a year earlier as revenue jumped 34% to £28.3m.

The Chesterfield Special Cylinders business drove the increase in turnover as it registered a 40% leap in sales to £13.9m due to high volume activity and the number of projects completed or in progress.

Precision Machined Components' revenue grew by 29% to £14.4m as continued momentum in the oil & gas sector ensured that the segment had now registered three consecutive halves of growth.

In the coming months, Pressure Technologies said it will prioritise reducing leverage by debt reduction and supporting the business with the capital investment programme.

Chief executive Chris Walters said: "Order backlog and delayed output increased working capital during the year, but I am confident that this will unwind early in the new year as the backlog is cleared and operational initiatives take effect, delivering shorter lead times, improved margins and recovering cash flows.

"Good strategic progress and the favourable conditions in core markets underpin our confidence in the outlook for 2020 and beyond. Both divisions hold strong order books with reduced customer concentrations and have recently posted record contract wins from an increasingly diverse and buoyant sales pipeline."

Pressure Technologies shares were up by 1.91% at 106.50p at 1012 GMT.