Takeover to add £1m to turnover
AWARD-WINNING Teesside firm Tracerco is further expanding its overseas operations after acquiring a Belgium-based company.
The takeover of Process Vision Services will give Tracerco bases in both Belgium and France for the first time.
Fraser Thomson, operations director, said the deal would add £1m to Tracerco’s turnover in the first year and help the firm expand it’s European business.
The announcement comes just days after Tracerco - which was crowned the North East Business of the Year at the nebusiness awards last month - said it was investing £1m into regional service centres in Asia and Australia.
Process Vision Services employs eight people in service centres in Brussels and Lyon in France. The company has a strong reputation in the provision of process diagnostics services, especially distillation tower scanning and troubleshooting, amongst clients throughout the European refining and petrochemical industry.
“This acquisition puts us closer to the market and closer to customers,” added Mr Fraser.
“We expect it to add £1m to our turnover this year - and we want to grow that figure by 50% in the next three years.”
Part of the Johnson Matthey group, Tracerco specialises in designing bespoke measurement systems for bulk fluids and process systems.
It has developed the Profiler, which is used to accurately measure and control the process of oil and gas separation.
Around 130 of its 300 staff are based at its global headquarters in Billingham with the rest employed at operations across the world.
The company, which began as a small scientific research team at ICI’s Billingham site in 1958, has continued to expand its product range and geographical reach and now has 28 operations around the globe.
Last month Tracerco was an Innovation Award winner in the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise 2009.
Andy Hurst, Tracerco’s managing director, added: “Acquiring Process Vision Services greatly strengthens our capacity to provide the full range of Tracerco's technologies in process diagnosis and measurement to process industry clients in all the countries in Europe.
“The Process Vision team have been expertly lead by Ignace Sallets for many years, and we are impressed by their dedication to serve customers and their in-depth commitment to technical excellence and innovation.
“Bringing them within Tracerco, provides a great opportunity to build on these strong foundations.”
