An Angus engineering and manufacturing firm has accelerated its recruitment plans after picking up contracts worth £1.8 million in the past three months.
Brechin business Hydrus said it had created seven new jobs in the period on the back of securing significant new subsea engineering work.
The firm had planned to increase its workforce by a total of 10 over the course of the full year, but said new order intakes over the past quarter had forced it to up the pace of its recruiting schedule.
The new contracts involve specialised subsea work for energy companies operating in the North Sea, in Atlantic waters west of Shetland and at Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean.
Hydrus employs around 40 staff at its factory in Brechin servicing a range of operators, tier one service companies, subsea original equipment manufacturers and renewables firms.
Managing director Martin F Anderson said the business had been on an upwards trajectory since moving from the oil capital of Aberdeen to Angus a couple of years ago.
“We are continuing to grow and the facility that we have here can easily handle more,” Mr Anderson said.
“It is a very bouyant market right now in oil and gas Aberdeen is a micro-climate for that type of activity but the reason we moved down here was to get away from that and not have to fight for the same people and resources. We feel Angus can offer a lot to the oil and gas industry there is a lot of experience down here already that is travelling to Aberdeen. We see the market continuing to grow for the next two, three, five years.”
The company has recently completed a second project out of Montrose Port the nearest site with deep water berths to Hydrus’s factory and Mr Anderson said he expected the docks to become increasingly important to his business.
He said: “We find ourselves perfectly positioned to capitalise on the excellent infrastructure our location affords us because we are able to transport equipment quickly and efficiently to quaysides in both Aberdeen and Montrose, where we have recently completed a second project.
“Equipment was manufactured in Brechin then assembled, tested and commissioned at Montrose prior to being sea-fastened to the vessel for its final journey offshore.”
Mr Anderson said next for Hydrus was to look at setting up its own internal apprenticeship programme to ensure its future recruitment needs could be met.
He said: “The next thing we are going to do is take on a few apprentices. We have some with us already who are half through their time and, going forwards, we want to start developing our own personnel through modern apprenticeships.”