An important year for Brimmond

This year has been an important one for Brimmond, the Aberdeenshire-based provider of hydraulic, lifting and mechanical equipment and services. 

Starting the year off strong, Brimmond secured UK distributorships with KAMAT pumps and Heila Marine Cranes - both critical components to the company’s continued diversification - and has continued to go from strength to strength reporting its highest-ever turnover of £6 million.

Significantly in 2022, Brimmond integrated the divisions of its business by absorbing sister company Rigrun Europe. The company, which also rebranded after dropping ‘Group’ from its title, announced Tom Murdoch as Managing Director of the newly unified entity in June.

Reflecting on the company’s recent journey, Tom said: “Unifying the business has created a stronger organisation, more capable of achieving growth in domestic and international markets as demand for our services continues to increase.

“The rebranding and restructure followed a successful year as we celebrated our 25th anniversary and secured contracts spanning the renewables, nuclear and marine sectors. It’s been a busy but very substantial year for us. Looking towards the end of March for the next financial year, we have an incredible pipeline of projects we are very close to securing.”

Key to this growth, Brimmond is in the process of implementing a new ambitious strategy to diversify into new markets including marine, aquaculture and renewables.

To further strengthen its board, in addition to Tom, as well as Operations Director Stewart Findlay and Technical Director Alan Glennie, Nigel Jenkins has recently been appointed as Non-Executive Director.

Nigel, who specialises in business improvement and growth, has been integral in the development of the new three-year strategy, as Tom explains: “Nigel has an outstanding business track record and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to Brimmond’s board, particularly in functions and processes that grow businesses and generate revenues.”

With a 25-year history in tailor-made design and manufacture of safe and cost-saving machinery for a wide range of sectors, oil and gas remains pivotal to Brimmond’s core business.

Tom adds: “Oil and gas will continue to be the primary source of income for us. This coming year I’d estimate it to have been 60-70% of the work. However, diversification is critical as the industry adapts to navigate the energy transition. We’re actively targeting opportunities for sustainable growth in other sectors and pleased to be increasing both our presence and product offering in emerging low-carbon markets.

“We have invested a lot of time in the Fit4OffshoreRenewables programme to ensure we can keep up, and excel at, our incoming renewables and energy transition opportunities.

“To support the recent growth, and achieve our objectives within new sectors, we are expanding the Brimmond team. Our people are at the very core of our company – we have a strong track record in the bespoke design and innovative manufacture for a wide range of sectors with a global reach, and this is down to the wealth of experience and calibre of our in-house team. We want to enable them to develop and grow along with the industry.”

Brimmond currently employs 33 members of staff and is looking to recruit another six including engineering roles, a business administrator and a workshop apprentice, with the hope of rolling out an apprentice programme in the future.

Not only does Brimmond invest in its people, but the company has also invested over £1million into various areas of the business, including rental fleet, stock Heila Cranes and the facility. New rental equipment includes another 175 Tonne Meter crane, capable of 27m of reach and various hydraulic power units. And a dedicated fabrication extension onto their current building in Kintore is also in the works to increase capacity. 

Amid an exceptionally busy year, the Brimmond team also found the time to get involved in a variety of creative fundraising activities through its charity partnership with Charlie House. Throughout the year, Brimmond has continued to boost its efforts to raise awareness and critical funds for the charity, which supports local children with life-limiting conditions, hitting the impressive milestone of £25,000.

Brimmond is on track to beat this year’s £6 million turnover by around 10% with an exciting pipeline of projects and contracts in various sectors lined up for 2023. “We’ve got an exciting new product for a new industry, and it's looking as though next year is going to be a very busy and hugely rewarding year,” concludes Tom.

Brimmond designs, manufactures, rents and services a range of hydraulic, mechanical and lifting equipment. The company’s core equipment includes diesel and electric hydraulic power units (HPUs), marine cranes, umbilical reelers, spoolers, flushing units and pump units of all shapes and sizes.

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