The basics
Company name: Fircroft Engineering Services
What they do: Oil and gas recruitment
Headquarters: Sale
The boss: Johnathan Johnson
The financials
Latest turnover (?,000): 404,900
Four-year compound sales growth (%): 32
Latest Ebitda (?,000): 9,067
The details
This technical recruitment firm operating primarily in the oil and gas sector was set up by John Johnson and is now run by his son Johnathan (John remains as chairman). It has around 6,500 contractors operating in 40 countries.
Although it does fill permanent positions, 99 per cent of its work is contract based. Fircroft is benefiting from its international presence and moves in the industry towards consolidation, explains Johnathan.
?We are fortunate to hold global agreements with clients like Chevron, BP and BG. Oil operators want reliance on companies with sound financial backgrounds, international presence, and the ability to do visas and taxes in various locations.
A global agreement is very good news, explains Johnathan. We have been a supplier to BP for 40 years. Over the last couple of years we got a global agreement, which allowed us to work in many new locations, including the US. That set about terrific growth in the business.
Similarly, when BG acquired Queensland Gas Company in Australia, ?We moved from zero to 400 contractors in a very short space of time.
Turnover last year was £404.9m, but the price of oil and continuing consolidation leaves Johnson optimistic at hitting £1bn by 2014.
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