Belcan: growth ambitions in the UK?
The website of Insider Media Limited reported that Applied Technology Consultants (ATC), the primary subsidiary of Belcan in the UK, had enjoyed robust growth and had returned in the black. Revenues of ATC were £38m (approximately USD 50m), and its PBT was £3m. According to Insider Media Limited, Belcan has growth ambitions in the country and is ready to make acquisitions.
The news is credible: as far as I know, Belcan has only one international location, and that’s the UK. The company seems, indeed, interested in increasing its presence in the UK: in July 2018, Belcan acquired Cheltenham-based Omega Engineering Services. Omega is a testing specialist serving the aerospace and manufacturing industries, and also a developer of control equipment. Omega had 80 FTEs and revenues of around USD 8m (estimate). I am guessing that Belcan will want to go beyond its current niche presence in staffing and aerospace testing, and will have a build up strategy in the UK too.
Readers of ERDservices.org will object by saying that this is all a bit speculative. Point taken. I found the build-up of Belcan quite fascinating: will the owner of Belcan and CDI Corp, AE Industrial Partners, develop only marginally outside of staffing, or will it transform the two companies into full engineering firms? Will be able to increase the profitability level of Belcan, and CDI Corp in the US and elsewhere? Also, is now the right time to invest in the UK, given the Brexit-related uncertainty?