Member Article

Taking over the valley – sixth factory for Express

As part of its continued expansion, precision engineering operation Express has taken on its sixth Team Valley site – to be known as factory five!

The deal for the 24,000 sq. ft. unit, which will accommodate the business’ welding operations, has been in the pipeline for some time – meaning a sixth site was established first by the rapidly growing company.

It brings the total amount of operational space on Team Valley to 160,000sq. ft. – a three fold increase in just four years.

Express Engineering recently joined an elite group of 45 organisations in the UK to be certificated under the International Institute of Welding approved ISO 3834 standard for its clad welding process – producing robust components for sub-sea operations.

Other highlights during the year include a £1.5 million multi-tasking Mazak machine, the first of its kind in the UK and only the second in Europe. It will allow Express to make new components, whilst ensuring that the existing products for the oil and gas exploration and extratction markets are produced more efficiently.

The purchase is part of a £6.5 million investment programme for the year which has also secured additional turning and milling machines from Scotland. All this has been installed at a 32,000 sq. ft. site between Kingsway and Princes Way - the company’s fifth site on the Team Valley.

Said Express Group Chief Executive, Nigel Davison: “Our recent investment in new machinery, unique to the UK, a new assembly and testing centre and now this specialist welding facility means our oil and gas business is ready to move to the next level. We have the capability and capacity to produce new components and move into new markets with new customers.”

The group has invested almost £18 million in the past four years. In addition to the expansion of the oil and gas division on Team Valley it has acquired other engineering businesses on Tyneside and in Stokesley, North Yorkshire - where it has created an aerospace and industrials division – and established sub-sea component manufacturer, Petrotec, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

A capital injection from mid-market private equity investor LDC – which took a minority equity stake in the business late in 2013 - and a grant from the BE Group’s Let’s Grow Fund have supported the expansion programme.

As a result, almost 100 new jobs have been created this year, including 13 new apprentices, meaning the workforce has almost quadrupled – now just under 500 – in the past four years.

Earlier this month the business broke into a league table of the country’s fastest growing, privately owned firms, being placed 88th in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100. As one of 13 new entrants on the list, Express has achieved an annual sales growth of 50% over the past three years, taking the turnover to almost £38 million.

Fast Track 100 has been published each December for the past 17 years. Typical listed companies are owned and run by entrepreneurs, have between 20 and 500 staff, an average three-year sales growth of between 50% and 300% per annum and sales of between £5 million and £100 million. Around 20% have venture capital backing.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Dobbie .