North-east firm Aubin said yesterday it had received a £2.25million boost from the Business Growth Fund (BGF).
The Ellon company supplies chemicals and compounds to the subsea industry, specialising in solutions for buoyancy as well as pipeline cleaning and repair.
The investment will assist Aubin in further research and development of its patented gel products, including DeepBuoy, and with international expansion.
Aubin managing director Paddy Collins said: “We are delighted with this investment, and look forward to the future with this funding. With this additional capital, we will be able to accelerate our research and development focus to create new bespoke subsea solutions for the industry.
“I am happy to be working in partnership with BGF and securing this investment is a vote of confidence in the team at Aubin and the work we are doing.
“January 2013 was the best month in our company’s history for sales of our subsea products, and this investment will help us build on that momentum and continue to offer a variety of innovative products and solutions to the marketplace.”
Duncan Macrae, an investment director with BGF, said: “Aubin is a business with huge potential. I’m particularly excited about the opportunities for the company in the subsea sector where its innovative gel technologies should result in both cost savings and safety enhancements.”
Simon Munro, BGF’s regional director for Scotland, added: “This is exactly the sort of business that BGF should be backing.
“Over the years Aubin has always been profitable, but significant growth has been limited due to capital constraints.
“Those constraints have largely been removed and we’re looking forward to helping Aubin reach its full potential. I’m also looking forward to hearing from other ambitious management teams in 2013 that are keen to grow their businesses.”
In addition to the BGF’s equity investment, Bank of Scotland has provided Aubin with a £500,000 debt facility through the government’s funding for lending scheme.
Chris Cooper, relationship director at Bank of Scotland Commercial, said: “Bank of Scotland’s investment in this successful business is an example of our ambition to help SMEs develop, diversify and grow through asset-based financial support.
“Aubin’s focus on subsea development places it at the heart of the industry’s future. The combined experience and success of the team is a great example of the key role independent specialists are playing in Aberdeen’s booming oil and gas sector.”
In addition to research and development, the company will use the capital for expansion into the Russian and Middle Eastern markets. Aubin will also continue developing its presence in Brazil following trial testing at Petrobras last year.
In the 2011-12 financial year, Aubin had a turnover of £4.8million, up from £4.5million previously.
Last month alone saw the company generate more than £800,000 in turnover.
BGF is an independent company with capital of up to £2.5billion backed by five of the UK’s main banking groups – Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered. It aims to help provide long-term equity finance to Britain’s SMEs with growth potential.
The deal with Aubin marks BGF’s fourth investment in Scotland and its third in the oil and gas sector. Aubin was set up in 1987 and has a team of 21 people.