Komatsu’s UK turnover soared by nearly £40m last year after the digger maker managed to increase its exports to the US.
The firm - which manufacturers the famous, yellow excavators from its factory in Birtley, Gateshead - saw its revenues jump from £191.1m in 2018 to £228.2m for the year ending March 31.
The rise in turnover was largely due to the North East site fulfilling demand for its products in the US.
Paul Blanchard, Komatsu’s managing director, said: “The company was able to increase turnover by just over £37m in the year to 31 March 2019, as a result of being able to sell excavators to the USA in temporary support of Komatsu Group’s American plants, which were not able to satisfy the exceptionally strong demand in that market.
“The additional volume helped Komatsu to increase its profit before tax to £4.8m, an increase of £755,000 on the previous year.”
As well as increasing its sales to the US the company also increased demand in Europe. The Birtley factory sells its equipment exclusively to Komatsu Europe International NV, which then distributes them around the world.
But despite the UK site benefiting from the increased exports operating profit at the firm remained broadly flat at £4.2m.
The reason for operating profits remaining flat was largely due to a major increase in costs. Net operating expenses at the plant jumped £37m to £224m.
A large chunk of this increase was due to the cost of raw materials and consumables, which increased by nearly £17m to £177.6m.
The factory also increased its headcount over the period from 424 members of staff to 458. This led to payroll costs increasing from £22.4m to £25.7m.
The biggest increase in headcount was in the firm’s production team, which grew from 236 members of staff to 267.
The highest paid director at the business was paid a total of £481,000, an increase of £97,000 on the previous year.
