A tech firm which provides maritime surveillance systems to clients in the defence and fishing sectors has swung back into profit after a 300% revenue rebounded following the Covid-19 pandemic.
SRT Marine Systems, based in Midsomer Norton in North East Somerset, saw sales of its radio systems and transceivers - which are deployed by national coastal guards and fishing monitoring agencies - grow to £18.8m in the six months to the end of September - up from £4.7m in the first half of the previous financial year.
The Aim-listed firm said this helped generate a profit after tax of £2.1m - compared to a loss of £3.1m for the same period a year earlier.
SRT said its transceivers business grew 24% year on year, yielding £5.2m revenue, despite “ongoing component supply issues”. Bosses added the firm’s systems division contributed £13.6m, up from £0.5m in 2021, when its activity was “depressed due to Covid”.
The company said two major projects - one in the Philippines with the country's national fisheries ministry (BFAR) and one in the Middle East with a National Coast Guard - were "progressing well", with the former catching up after Covid-related delays, and the latter to be completed by the end of next year.
SRT reported a loss of £5.8m for its last full financial year, but the company’s board said there were more opportunities for continued growth this year. The company said there was a £600m pipeline of prospective contracts for its SRT-MDA tracking system.
Chairman Kevin Finn said within the group’s validated pipeline there were five “sizeable” projects with a total worth of around £230m which have been in their final pre-contract stages for “some time”.
Mr Finn said after “steady and consistent” engagement SRT was “optimistic” these would fall under contract in the coming months, subject to statutory procurement processes.
Mr Finn added: “These results are now starting to show the benefits of the significant technology, product and market investments we have made over many years. The marine domain remains one where there is a significant gap in knowledge and these new technologies enable that gap to be filled, resulting in long-term growing demand for our products across the globe.”
Read next:
- Bristol's 'Etsy for home cooking' platform expands into Bath
- Travelodge Wincanton's 'radical' hotel transformation nearly complete
- Clarks swings back into profit after year of 'repositioning'
- E-scooter firm Voi removes Russian investors as shares sold
Like this story? Why not sign up to get the latest South West business news straight to your inbox.
