ABERDEEN firm Hydrasun said yesterday it was to create up to 100 jobs over the coming year amid growing demand for its specialist oilfield services.
It also said it was on course to beat the record £80million sales it had forecast for the 12 months to March 31, 2012.
Chief executive Bob Drummond said: “Our performance is getting stronger every month and turnover is likely to be in excess of £80million – a rise of around 25% on the previous year.
“During the first nine months of the current financial year Hydrasun saw almost 40% growth in international sales, compared with 2010-11, rising to around 25% of total sales.”
Mr Drummond said the plan for the coming year was for the firm to continue growing its overseas business, including new bases in the Middle East and Angola.
He added: “We will be focusing in particular on the Caspian, west Africa, the Middle East and obviously Brazil following our acquisition of Remaq there late last year.
“We do have further acquisition targets under consideration at the moment; one international and one in the UK.
“To support our growth, we expect to need between 50 to 100 new staff in the UK and internationally during the next 12 months.”
Hydrasun added 100 people to its team last year, giving it a total of nearly 600. About half of the workforce is based in Aberdeen.
Mr Drummond’s comments came after Companies House released accounts showing Hydrasun – founded in 1976 by Bill Cameron and Stan Fraser – grew earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda), by 18% to £9.2million during the year to March 31, 2011. Pre-tax losses widened to £2.94million, from £2.49million a year earlier, which Hydrasun said reflected the interest and financing costs typically faced by companies backed by private equity.
Turnover in the latest period was £65.37million, however, up from £59.23million previously.
Mr Drummond said the record 2010-11 performance for ebitda and turnover came after continued investment in the business and its workforce.
He added: “This, along with strategic internationalisation and the development and marketing of specialist services and products complementary to established core products, have helped us achieve the key growth targets we set out when we moved to our new £12million headquarters in Aberdeen last year.”
Hydrasun specialises in integrated fluid transfer, power and control services.
Mr Drummond, backed by the Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland and Invex Capital Partners, took control of the business in 2002 for an undisclosed sum.