Tanfield Group, parent company of Snorkel aerial work platforms posted an 11-percent revenue increase in 2011, with revenue of £48.3 million (about U.S. $76.6 million), compared to £43.5 million in 2010. Gross margins jumped from 29 percent in 2010 to 37 percent, and the order book soared from £7.7 million at the end of 2010 to £30.5 million, a 296-percent spike.
“Demand for aerial lifts began to return in key markets during 2011 and grew as the year progressed, clearly demonstrated by the order book we brought into 2012,” said Jon Pither, chairman of Tanfield. “Bottlenecks within the supply chain slowed our rate of growth, but Tanfield still made good progress towards its near-term break-even target. The company has recently raised additional funds to eliminate significant supply-chain constraints and the board is confident that this will accelerate Tanfield’s growth in 2012.”
Pither added that Tanfield’s sale of Smith Electric Vehicles at the beginning of the year will allow the board to fully focus its attention on the powered access division.
“We cross-trained our workforce in anticipation of ramp-up in production and invested in new product development. Both strategies will stand us in good stead as the aerial lift industry maintains its growth curve in 2012 and beyond.”
“We continued to execute our strategy of enhancing the Snorkel product portfolio, launching a new range of boomlifts that share a common chassis,” added chief executive Darren Kell. “We have appointed a dedicated team to target Latin America, which continues to experience strong growth in the adoption of aerial work platforms; and strengthened our sales team in North America. Snorkel sells through a worldwide network of independent distributors. In 2011, we appointed new distributors in China, Czech Republic, Romania and Turkey.”
Tanfield Group is based in Washington, Tyne & Wear, U.K. Snorkel’s U.S. headquarters is in Ellwood, Kan.
