Oil and gas engineering consultancy Optimus says it has bagged contracts worth almost £2million since January, following a year of significant investment.
It is this investment that pulled pre-tax profits for 2012 down by 45% on the previous year to £402,394 compared with £732,628 in 2011.
However, the Aberdeen firm’s turnover continued to grow during the 12 months to end-December – up 15% to £12.3million from £10.7million the prior year.
Total staff numbers increased more than a quarter, from 70 to 90, during the period and the consultancy opened a satellite office in Inverness to tap into engineering skills base in the Highlands.
The forecast for this year is for turnover to rise by a third, or £4million, to around £16million, but with a 50% jump in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) to £850,000, up from this year’s £547,054 and ahead of the 2011 figure of £838,653.
Optimus director Ian Bell said of progress: “We had a pretty spectacular year in 2011, when turnover rocketed 88% on the back of the expansion of our consultancy business and entry into the projects delivery market.
“We’ve returned to levels more akin to 2010, when turnover rose by a more modest and sustainable 12%.
“The past year has been very much about us building a platform to set us up as the leading boutique engineering consultancy serving the North Sea.
“An ever-growing band of energy operators are realising the benefits of working with smaller, leaner and fitter contractors, who can react quickly to deliver small projects efficiently.
“At least three other companies have joined this market since we set up Optimus Projects in 2010; we want to retain our edge and have invested in project controls systems in the past year.”
Besides people, one of the keys to future growth is the design and build of what Bell described as a “comprehensive project management tool” that is expected to place Optimus in a “much stronger position” to provide clients with the support they demand.
Bell said too, the fact that the company is wholly owned by its managers and team members, with growth entirely self-funded, has proven to be an advantage.
“We are confident that, because we’re a small company, we can keep control of what our guys are doing and make sure projects don’t run over on cost or timescale,” said Bell.
“We might charge a bit more than some of the competition for our expertise, but our ability to work smarter means we save our clients money in the long run.”
The firm recently unveiled plans to turn the city’s redundant Greyfriars John Knox Church into its new international corporate headquarters.
Optimus specialises in process engineering, facilities engineering, safety and project management services.