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Record order book for Angus robotics firm

The AGR Automation premises at the Elliot Industrial Estate in Arbroath.
The AGR Automation premises at the Elliot Industrial Estate in Arbroath.

An Angus-based company which provides bespoke automation systems saw sales rise by 15% last year after an “unprecedented” amount of large business opportunities.

Wiltshire registered AGR Automation Limited’s primary manufacturing site is at Peasiehill Road on Arbroath’s Elliott Industrial Estate.

The firm has developed a strong global reputation in the medical device industry, which provides the majority of the company’s projects.

Newly published accounts at Companies House show revenue increased to £14.3m for the year ending December 31 2018, up from £12.4m in 2017 and £8.2m in 2016.

Pre-tax profits increased from £846,000 in 2017 to £1.1m last year.

In his strategic report, director Derek Gaston said the firm ended last year with a record order book.

He said: “2018 represented a growth in sales revenues of approximately 15% as the company has begun to benefit from a return to normal standards of capital investment from its customers.

“The company ended 2018 with a record order book and forecasts strong client project awards in 2019.

“In 2018, the company continued to demonstrate its ability to cope with the cyclical fluctuations in its market while retaining all members of staff and still returning strong profitability.

“The significant effort expanded in developing large contracts with new clients and in advancing key anticipated future projects continues to result in an increasingly strong pipeline of opportunity and the company expects to continue record order book levels for the foreseeable future.”

AGR supported a total of 137 staff last year, with the administrative function of the business having an average of 65 employees, the manufacturing side 70 staff and two directors.

Mr Gaston said the company was experiencing an “unprecedented” level of large project business opportunities.

“Repeated contract awards from key clients in therefore central to AGR’s strategy,” he added.

“Critical to the success of this strategy is maintenance of AGR Automation’s reputation for excellence with its key clients and addition of a new strategic partner every two to three years.

“The company has further developed its strategy of building in-house expertise in key technological areas (such as machine vision analysis) rather than relying, as do a number of competitors, on external third party provision.”

Mr Gaston said most of the firm’s clients were “buffered” from macro-economic factors but did have varying investment cycles.

“Due to the scale of typical projects as a percentage of AGR sales revenue, the company must at times manage significantly fluctuating workloads,” he said.

rmclaren@thecourier.co.uk