Oil and gas engineering specialist Plexus Holdings has raised annual profits 145 per cent to £1.9 million pre-tax.

The Aberdeen-based company increased turnover 29 per cent to £13.3 million in the year to June, though its pre-tax profits growth rate shrinks to 21 per cent if investment disposal profits of £800,000 are included in the 2006-07 figure. AIM-quoted Plexus, which is extending the use of its proprietary POS-GRIP high-temperature and high-pressure system beyond exploration wellheads into the sub-sea market and elsewhere, won several sizeable contacts, including a £750,000 order from Shell (Egypt) and a £500,000 deal with Sweden’s Lundin Petroleum.

Chairman Robert Adair says Plexus, which has also won contracts with Conoco Philips and Dubai Petroleum, has diversified away from its ‘traditional North Sea heartland’ in a drive that has included establishing a subsidiary in Malaysia. He declares that the company faces the future ‘with confidence’, while conceding that the long lead times in this sector can cause ‘some volatility in anticipated revenues’.

Plexus shares, which hit 104p in 2006, now trade at 43p, down 1.5p this morning on concern about overall oil exploration activity. Over the long term, they could fare better than some others in the sector.  

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Plexus	AIM	£31.27m	39.00p	0.00p
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