Gael expanding into force to be reckoned with

Results: Marine firm quadruples profits to £1.6m

The managing director of Inverness-based marine equipment, technology and services firm Gael Force Group has hailed a “hugely successful” year which saw its profits almost quadruple and turnover leap by around £7 million.

Stewart Graham said the business was expanding and investing in research and development in its aim of becoming a “world-class Scottish company”.

Accounts for the group, lodged with Companies House, showed its pre-tax profits soared to £1.6m in the year to the end of last December from £439,083 in the previous 12 months. Its turnover rose from £17.2m to £24.1m over the same period.

The firm, which had an average monthly workforce of 161 in 2017, received its biggest single order in July last year to build and supply concrete feed barges for salmon farming giant Marine Harvest.

Mr Graham, who founded Gael Force in Stornoway in 1983, said: “Last year was undoubtedly hugely successful for Gael Force Group as our financial results show. Our determination to innovate and collaborate with our customers is driving an increasing demand for our growing product and service range.

“At the core of everything we do are our customers and we are dedicated to providing excellence and competitiveness in the range of marine equipment, technology and services that enables them to achieve their goals.”

He added: “We continue to build on the success of last year by investing significantly in capacity expansion, R&D and innovation in our equipment and technology offering. Our long-term vision is to grow Gael Force into a world-class Scottish company. We have skilled and resilient teams across our group who have been vital in enabling us to achieve ambitious targets.”

In April this year Gael Force acquired a 75% majority share in Obanbased Fusion Marine. The largest producer of offshore oil and gas in China has become the country’s first organisation certified to train workers to Opito safety standards.

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) achieved the internationally-recognised approval this summer and it’s anticipated that more than 1,000 employees will be certified within the first year.

CNOOC has operations in the South China Sea as well as being involved in LNG storage activities within the Tianjin port district of the Bohai Sea. Internationally, it has assets in Asia, Africa, North and South America, Oceania and Europe.

The training centre and its satellite facilities are based in the city of Tianjin where up to 40,000 CNOOC workers are based. It obtained Opito approval after meeting the criteria set out by the global, not-for-profit, skills organisation for the energy sector over nine months.

The approval will allow the company to introduce employees safety issues and regimes relevant to offshore installations and equip them with the basic emergency response knowledge and skills for travelling offshore by helicopter.

Opito chief executive John McDonald said: “This is very good news for CNOOC and the wider global industry. It’s extremely reassuring to see this scale of investment in safety training which will benefit workers all over the world.” The following events are due to take place this week:

Tomorrow

Finals: Hotel Chocolat; Interims: AG Barr, Card Factory, Next, Moss Bros, Pennon

Wednesday

Interims: AA, Boohoo

Thursday

Interims: 888 Holdings, Saga

Friday

Final revision of second quarter GDP by the Office for National Statistics.

“This is very good news for CNOOC and the wider global industry”

AMBITION: Stewart Graham, boss of Inverness-based Gael Force Group