WASHINGTON: Merseyside-based power generation firm Clarke Energy is reporting a rise in annual revenues to just over £233m and says it is “optimistic” about its future prospects. The figure for the year to October 31, 2015, is a slight rise on the £232.2m achieved in the previous year.
Clarke, which has its headquarters in Knowsley, saw operating profit come in at just under £12.5m – down from more than £13.8m last year. Pre-tax losses widened to almost £6.3m from £3.6m in 2014.
However, the firm said its results represented a “significant achievement” against the backdrop of volatile oil prices and economic slowdown in China.
Founded by owner Jim Clarke in 1989, the Clarke Energy installs and maintains power generation plant and equipment at mines, hospitals and major commercial developments. The firm provided the power for the athletes’ village during the London Olympics in 2012 and for the Shard skyscraper at London Bridge.
It also supplies Broadgreen Hospital and the Christie Hospital in Manchester, among many others. The firm employs about 1,000 staff around the world, including 150 at its Knowsley Business Park head office.
At the ECHO Regional Business Awards last year, Clarke Energy won two accolades – the UKTI International Trader of the Year Award and the DLA Piper Business Person of the Year award for Jim Clarke.
Despite the global headwinds faced by the company, it said in its annual report: “The international market for distributed power remains important, however, and is set to grow into the future.
“Our most recent geographical expansion was into Cameroon where we have already made our first sale. In North Africa our operations have expanded and we have opened a new office in Tunisia supporting the wider region. “Clarke Energy has also expanded its suite of products supplied from GE and now includes the new diesel engine range in Nigeria, Australia and India.
On receiving his ECHO award last summer, he told a 500-strong audience of business people at Liverpool’s St George’s Hall that winning the accolade was a “shocking surprise”. He said: “I can’t imagine that anyone could have had more fun than I have building this business over the past years.”
