Product category:
Industrial consultancy services
News Release from: Smithers Rapra
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 13 February 2004
Successful first year after buyout
In its first full calendar year of trading as an MBO (2003) Rapra Technology, Europe's leading polymer research and test house, achieved year on year growth in sales of 9%.
In its first full calendar year of trading as an MBO (2003) Rapra Technology, Europe's leading polymer research and test house, achieved year on year growth in sales of 9% Full and detailed financial results are not available until Spring 2004, but Chief Executive Andrew Ward is satisfied with the first findings of last year's commercial performance
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 25 Apr 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Book covers costs spectrum of plastics processing
Cost Management in Plastics Processing - Strategies, Target, Techniques and Tools - examines issues from how costs are calculated, to the effective use of machines and labour.
Assessing the life of plastics materials
'Practical Guide to the Assessment of the Useful Life of Plastics' provides practical guidance on assessing the useful service life of plastics.
Ward notes that "the performance of our technology division - about 70% of the company - was especially encouraging.
Year on year sales for Rapra's Technology Division increased by some 15%".
Reasons for the growth include: Greater incidence of repeat business and higher spending single clients; Growth in new product testing areas; Growth in pharmaceutical and medical areas; Growth in legal and arbitration work; and Growth in new polymer-based product design and development work.
Further reading
Explore adhesion and bonding to polyolefins
Many applications of polyolefins require good adhesion to other substrates. A report discusses ways of improving adhesion to substrates.
Updated book gives introduction to composites
Use of composites by high volume car manufacturers is growing, and an updated version of an introductory book to composites in design and manufacture is now available.
In addition, Rapra Technology's successful involvement in Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) programmes for the local region and its winning role in securing EU research grants have both helped to expand the business.
These two elements accounted for over ?1million of Rapra turnover last year.
Almost half a million pounds of funding was managed by Rapra under such schemes as Plastics West Midlands; the Telford and Wolverhampton Polymer Cluster, the Manufacturing Advisory Scheme (MAS) for the West Midlands, as well as inward investment studies for Advantage West Midlands.
In 2003 Rapra's large projects team, led by Mark Gaddes, achieved sales of ?650,000.
Already in 2004, another ?300,000 of further European funded projects for polymer-based research has been added to the work portfolio.
Gaddes's team is now expanded to a staff of three and is expected to build upon this success through the next year and beyond.
The first full year of Rapra's MBO regime also saw a wave of fresh investment made by the new Rapra management.
Some ?400,000 in capital expenditure was approved at the Shawbury HQ in the summer of 2003.
This investment was the biggest ever made by the consultancy over the course of its 80-year history.
The new capabilities are already strengthening Rapra Technology's position at the forefront of independent polymer analysis in Europe.
Ward notes that the expansion has been enabled by the new structure of the company.
'At the time of the Management Buy Out in July 2002 we promised investment in the fundamentals.
We are delighted to be delivering on that promise now.' Rapra Technology forecasts that demand for its polymer analysis skills in relatively new areas, such as pharmaceuticals and medical device testing, is set to rise by over 85% in the next four years.
Part of Rapra Technology's business aim is to grow this area to a ?0.5 million turnover by 2006.
Last year already achieved sales exceeding ?300,000 in this area.
Large-scale contract research projects for bodies such as the UK's Food Standards Agency have also encouraged the Rapra expansion in the polymer analysis area.
• Smithers Rapra: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Manufacturingtalk email newsletter
• Manufacturingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
