Innovation boosts profit for subsea robotics firm

REVENUE and profits have jumped at Tyneside subsea robotics specialist Soil Machine Dynamics on the back of recent innovation.

- TOM KEIGHLEY Business writer

The Wallsend-based maker of subsea equipment and provider of services to the offshore energy sector saw revenue climb to £76.5m last year, up from £55m the year before. Pre-tax profits leapt from £1.48m to £4.79m in the same period.

Growth comes on the back of extensive development work by the firm's engineers on the electrification of its underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and patented technology that shows where cables have been placed deep below the seabed to protect them. Newly appointed chief operating officer Stephen Hill said the firm had made savvy decisions which put it ahead of a rise in the market for electric ROVs with SMD's Quantum and Atom models offering greater reliability and more energy efficiency having replaced their hydraulic counterparts.