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Dundee turbine repair firm’s contract win secures 88 city jobs

The company's chief executive warns being in business is "hardest it has ever been".

ATL Turbine Services chief executive Dale Harris. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson
ATL Turbine Services chief executive Dale Harris. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson

The boss of Dundee’s ATL Turbine Services is celebrating the renewal of a “high value” contract securing almost 90 jobs, but warns the cost of doing business has never been higher.

ATL refurbishes aero and light industrial turbine parts, giving them the same integrity and durability as new components.

They have announced a three-year renewal to a contract with billion-euro Swiss mechanical firm Sulzer.

Chief executive Dale Harris said the extension will help to secure the 88 jobs at their Baldovie site “well into the future”.

The “high-value, multi-year” arrangement comes on the back of an eight-year relationship between ATL and Sulzer.

“The confirmation of this contract is really good for us. Having a renewal like this, and we have worked with Sulzer for around eight years now, is testament to the service they get.

“That’s down to the team here and the service we provide.

“Having this contract secures helps with predictability going forward. We employ 88 staff at the moment. And this gives us a really good basis and secures these going forward.”

‘Hardest it has ever been’

But Dale warned businesses were facing their toughest time in an age, not helped by this week’s budget.

National Insurance employer contributions are to be increased, which ATL calculates will cost the firm an additional £87,000 annually.

“At the moment, being a business is about the hardest it has ever been. We have dealt with the difficulties of the pandemic, the difficulties of Brexit, the difficulties of the cost-of-living crisis.

“And it is the legacy of all these things which companies like ours are having to deal with.

ATL Turbine Services chief executive Dale Harris with the companys new furnace
ATL Turbine Services chief executive Dale Harris. Image: DC Thomson

“It is a challenge. And we worked out today the hike in employer contributions to National Insurance are going to cost us an additional £87,000 a year, on top of what we pay.

“When you look at the extra revenue needed to generate, to cover that cost, it is huge.

“So it is really challenging to go out and get another £300,000-plus in revenue just to cover that cost. And that will have to be done every year.

“Energy costs also continue to be at a really high level, and are a real concern too. So there is not a lot of respite for businesses at the moment.”

“Where we see business at the moment is last year, we were up on revenue and gross level, but down on EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).

“The fundamentals of the business are good. But it is mostly the costs which are impacting this.

“And it is getting harder and harder to make a profit.

“Ultimately that’s what you pay staff with, and use to reinvest into the company. It is a really tough business environment currently.”

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