Apollo Offshore Engineering said yesterday it was on track for significant growth.
The Aberdeen engineering design and analysis service firm plans to have a workforce of 100 and annual turnover of £10million by 2015.
Apollo, set up only in 2010 and which now employs 40 staff, anticipates turnover to double this financial year to more than £3million. Clients include Stena Drilling, ConocoPhillips and Centrica.
To help cope with the growth, the company has just moved into new premises at Waterloo Quay in the city.
Managing director Jonathan D’Arcy said: “The growth of the business has exceeded our expectations. We are delighted with the way the company has developed and it bodes well for the future.”
A key part in Apollo’s growth plan has been its recruitment strategy in what is an increasingly constricted job market, and has employed workers from other industries.
Mr D’Arcy said: “Engineers in industries, like construction and aerospace, among others use many of the same engineering methods and technologies, and we’ve found that they become highly effective after a short period of acclimatisation to the challenges of the oil and gas industry.
“The recruitment of highly skilled staff has been very challenging because of a shortage of experienced oil and gas engineers, but our vision and values have enabled us to compete by offering variety, challenge, excitement and personal and professional development opportunity driven by growth. From the outset we wanted to have a company where commercial pressures were secondary to delivering safe solutions and each of our staff is imbued with our desire for excellence without cutting corners.”
Neil Gordon, chief executive of industry body Subsea UK, is opening Apollo’s new Aberdeen office today. He said: “With the oil and gas industry continuing to be in robust health, highly skilled companies like Apollo are key to the industry’s ability to meet the increasing market demand for hydrocarbon resources.
“The challenge for Apollo and others is growth in a tight labour market, something that Apollo has addressed by casting a wide net to recruit engineers from other industries.”
Apollo employs 30 people in Aberdeen and 10 are spread between other UK offices in London, Darlington and Nottingham.
The Granite City workforce is expected to rise to more than 50 by 2015.
Mr D’Arcy added: “In addition to the development of our Aberdeen facility, we are also experiencing high demand in south-east England which is putting sufficient growth pressure on our London and Nottingham teams to require expansion in those regions this summer, and . . . Apollo is on track to open its first international office later this year.”
The other bosses at Apollo are support director Steve Leaper, operations director Ryan Menzies and engineering director Richard Bell.
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