Member Article

Crawley-based aircraft seat manufacturer flies high with BGF investment

Crawley-based Acro Aircraft Seating has received a £7.75m growth capital investment from BGF (Business Growth Fund).

Founded in 2007 by three industry professionals - Chris Brady, Andy Lawler and David Starkey- the aerospace design and engineering company was set up to design and manufacture economy airline seats that were comfortable, maintainable, robust and lightweight in order take advantage of huge growth in the low cost carrier (LCC) market.

The company’s first seat was launched in 2007 and a year later Acro was granted European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) approval with Jet2.com becoming its first customer. The range has since expanded to include both fixed and reclining seats as well as a recently launched premium economy seat.

Acro is now a major player in the global market for economy aircraft seats. Each year the company manufactures around 25,000 seats at its 50,000 square foot facility next to Gatwick Airport, but has the capacity to significantly increase this figure.

To date there are over 50,000 seats flying globally. The business now has more than 20 airline customers around the world including Thomas Cook, Frontier and Spirit Airlines and was ranked second in the 2015 Sunday Times SME Export Track. The company received the Queens Award for International Trade in 2015.

Under the leadership of CEO Chris Brady, Acro has enjoyed significant growth in recent years with revenues growing at a CAGR of 54 per cent since 2013 and, in the 12 months to January 2016, the business is expected to deliver revenues of £33m. Growth has been funded to date via cash flow.

In addition to retrofitting aircraft with seats, the ability to supply new aircraft significantly increases Acro’s potential market. The company was recently chosen as the preferred supplier for an order of 50 new Airbus aircraft by Spirit, an American low-cost carrier operating flights throughout the U.S. as well as the Caribbean, Mexico, and Latin America.

BGF’s capital will be used to invest in Acro’s design and product development capabilities, strengthen its supply chain and provide additional working capital to fund the company’s future order pipeline.

BGF has taken a minority stake in Acro and Ben Kirby, Investor, will take a seat on the company’s board on behalf of BGF.

In addition, Bob Davies joins as Non-Executive Chairman following an introduction by BGF. Bob is currently Board Advisor to TriVista and an advisor to Wyvern Partners carrying out operational due diligence and improvement projects for private equity houses.

BGF, an investor in growing companies, has backed 32 British manufacturing businesses in the past three years, from automotive component suppliers to designers and manufacturers of specialist audio and mobile phone products.

Chris Brady, CEO, commented: “We’ve worked hard to grow Acro and by investing every scrap we’ve made in our staff, products and infrastructure we have managed to double the size of the business every year for the past four years, but we still have ambitious plans. Our partnership with BGF will allow us to bring those plans to life, which is hugely exciting.”

Ben Kirby, BGF Investor, commented: “In an industry that is incredibly risk averse and highly regulated for obvious reasons, Acro has managed to build a fantastic reputation and market share in a relatively short space of time. It has achieved this primarily by designing seats which put customer comfort first but are also robust, maintainable and lightweight. Passing the strict the regulations required to manufacture aircraft seating is a strong endorsement of both the design and manufacturing capabilities of the business.

“It is fantastic to be backing such a high quality UK manufacturing business which is addressing a strong and growing end market. We look forward to partnering with Chris and the rest of the Acro team to continue growing the business.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .