Member Article

Hartlepool’s Stadium Group set for growth after making ‘positive progress against strategic targets’

Hartlepool-headquartered Stadium Group Plc, an electronics technologies group, has revealed a strong growth in its technology products following the successful pursuit of a revised, target based strategy in 2014.

Financial results for the year show a slight revenue decline at £41.7m (2013: £42.2m), with reduced revenue from iEMS of £27.7m (2013: £33.5m) offset by increased revenue from the Technology Products division, where sales increased to £14.0m (2013: £8.7m).

Normalised profit before tax of £2.7m (2013: £1.9m) grew by 45.7%. On an organic basis, adjusting for the acquisition of Stadium United Wireless, normalised PBT increased by 17.7% to £2.2m due predominantly to improved sales mix towards technology led products.

The Group restructured its debt facility in the year with HSBC, which enabled the acquisition of SUW and realigned repayment terms to match future investment plans. Net debt including finance leases at the year-end was £4.9m (2013: £0.2m).

2014 was a good year for Stadium group, who ultimately strengthened its global leadership and technical capability.

The reduced cost base, in addition to the expanded technology products businesses and the acquisition of Stadium United Wireless (SUW) contributed to this strong growth in earnings, which the group reportedly believe will continue to accelerate as it further develops its Integrated Technology Platform, a key element of its success.

In addition, another success was the group’s China factory relocation, with an upgrade scheduled for July 2015.

Nick Brayshaw OBE, Chairman, said: “With the Group’s new divisional operating structure of Technology Products and Integrated EMS, we are now well placed to take advantage of the growth markets in which we operate, in addition to driving further operational efficiencies.

“Furthermore, the recent acquisition of Stadium United Wireless positions us extremely well to capitalise on the growing demand for wireless connectivity solutions.

“As the business moves forward during the coming year, we anticipate the growing Technology Products division will generate approximately 50% of Group revenues, supported by the modernised global manufacturing facilities within the iEMS division.

“This is an exciting period for Stadium, and we have made positive progress against our strategic targets. We have continued to deliver improving results on the back of profitable and sustainable organic growth, with the addition of value accretive acquisitions.

“The initial months of 2015 have seen an encouraging start to the year, with the order book and revenues ahead of the comparable period of last year. We expect this improvement to continue going forward and therefore remain confident about the prospects for the current year and beyond.”