Overseas focus behind record results for SLR
ENVIRONMENTAL consultant SLR has reported record full-year results, posting a 24 per cent rise in profit despite a contraction of its core UK market.
The company, which is backed by private equity firm 3i, has spent the past year expanding into resource-driven economies through targeted acquisitions in Alaska, Australia and South Africa, to offset reduced growth in its UK and Ireland operations.
Earnings before tax at the group jumped 67 per cent to £7.7m, with profits climbing to £67.3m from £54.4m in 2009. More than 60 per cent of group revenues earned outside of the UK.
Chief executive David Richards said that the company was now well poised to benefit from a recovery in the industrial sector across the countries that it serves. “We are delighted to announce record results for the Group, particularly as these have been achieved against a backdrop of flat or contracting markets in Europe,” he said.
The company also announced yesterday that it had paid £7m for Metago, a South African environmental consultancy focused on sub-Saharan Africa and Australia.