North East offshore group Tekmar has signalled a potential end to a turbulent period with a record order book and increased revenues.
The Darlington firm has released half-year results to the end of March in which revenues rose from £13m in the same period last year to £17.7m. It said it had seen particularly strong growth in its offshore energy and marine civils divisions.
The firm remained loss-making, partly due to foreign exchange movements, but the losses had narrowed on the previous period and the company said it expects to break even in the current financial year with revenues of around £40m. It said 90% of that figure was already secured and it had a record order book of £26m after a number of recent contract wins.
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Having effectively put itself up for sale last year due to financial difficulties, Tekmar completed an equity fundraise with American financiers SCF totalling £5.2m. That deal also makes up to £18m of investment available to the company.
Tekmar CEO Alasdair MacDonald said: “We are delighted to have successfully concluded the strategic review process, welcoming SCF as a highly complementary strategic partner and significantly strengthening the balance sheet with the fundraise we completed in April. With our lower risk, lower cost and differentiated offering resonating strongly with the industry, the business can look forward now with real confidence to leveraging our lead position as the market accelerates its investment in offshore wind through 2030.
“Our near-term priority remains restoring profitability to the business, creating a solid platform to drive further profitable growth as the business scales, supported by investment, to create a leading offshore energy products and services business. As we complete this transition, we continue to expect the business to break even at an adjusted EBITDA level for the current financial year, with revenue in the region of £40m, ahead of the business generating positive adjusted EBITDA in FY24.”
Contract wins in the results period included an order for the Dogger Bank wind farm in the North Sea and a $10m programme for a subsea customer in the Middle East.
