
Entrepreneurial engineering group Dyson has announced record annual profits boosted by Asians giving up their “dustpans and brush”, but warned that it was struggling to hire skilled British engineers to work on new projects.
The group, founded and now chaired by James Dyson, said profits for 2014 had, after an eight per cent foreign exchange rate hit, climbed 13 per cent to ?367m. Turnover rose ten per cent to ?1.4bn. Dyson, which sells to 75 markets outside of the UK, said Asian demand had been a big driver as it doubled the size of its China business, recorded fast growth in South Korea and kept its position as market leader in Japan ? its second largest market ? as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Asian shoppers in particular liked the group?s bladeless fans, purifiers and humidifiers. Its core cordless vacuum cleaners saw a 68 per cent global sales rise. European growth was led by Italy, Spain and Germany. The group ramped up its research and development spend by 40 per cent to ?113m, which equates to ?3m a week. Out of its Malmesbury, Wiltshire campus and R&D laboratories and its high technology manufacturing complex in Singapore it is working on developing new technologies such as upgrading its digital motors and energy dense batteries. Read more about Dyson:- ?12m for Imperial College to launch Dyson School of Design Engineering
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- Dyson set to launch robotic vacuum cleaner?
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