ENGINEERING firm GT Group expects to see its sales grow from £30m to £80m in the next three years after winning a series of multi-million-pound contracts with global firms.
The Peterlee-based business, which mainly makes trucks and emission control systems for truck engines, says it has grown to be the first choice for its products with countries around the world.
Chief executive Geoff Turnbull said: “We were all affected by the downturn a few years ago but we worked to keep investing in developing new products.
“In the past few years we have put everything we can, tens of millions of pounds, into research and development, although sales have been coming back and profit has been consistent.
“Just because of the economic situation it doesn’t mean that people haven’t had to replenish their fleets and they want the latest equipment.
“We are looking at the future very positively and we expect to see very significant growth over the next five years. Our customers are confident that a turnaround in the market is going to take place this year. We have a very strong order book and it is growing strongly all the time.”
GT, which has 300 staff across its three plants in Peterlee and others in Consett, Sunderland and Newton Aycliffe, said its emissions control business has been growing the fastest with a £200m order book which goes for 10 years. It new products have seen it sign large contracts with Scania, Volvo and John Deere in recent months.
It is working with these and other big names to design and then make engines and trucks, up from the chassis supplied by truck giant Caterpillar’s Peterlee factory that is driving its growth.
GT’s turnover went up by £5m to £30m this year and Turnbull expects revenues to rise to £80m in three years to £100m in five years and its workforce to grow to 500.
This week it delivered its biggest truck so far to US truck and mining giant Ground Force, a 15m-long vehicle carrying what Turnbull describes “as the full forecourt of a garage supplying fuel, grease and water mounted on a truck so it can go into mines and areas where vehicles cannot reach a road.”
