Published : 6 years ago, on 09/08/2018

Downstream space information firm has ‘laid the foundations for profitable growth’ as earnings treble

Ecometrica has forecast further years of profitable growth after its latest figures showed earnings tripled to £650,000 – almost 15 times what they were two years ago.

The Edinburgh-headquartered downstream space and sustainability reporting company saw turnover increase by 109% to £5.5m in the year to the end of March. Profits were up 198% year-on-year.

Adrian Smith

The company also added to its already impressive trophy cabinet, with a record haul that saw it included in the Deloitte Fast 500, the FT 1000 and Inc 5000.

Executive Chairman Dr Richard Tipper said: “Ecometrica has laid the foundations for profitable growth into the foreseeable future. Our long-term plan is to grow through continued expansion into new segments and territories, and by broadening our technology and service models to cover new aspects of environmental risks and impact.

“Our innovation pipeline and range of off-the-shelf information services continues to expand through collaboration with universities and research institutions. Investment in research and development will continue to increase, assisted by various government incentives and programmes for downstream space.”

The firm already has offices in the UK, the US, Canada and Mexico. Dr Tipper said it now intends to expand its sales team into South America – in particular the agriculture and forest sectors of Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. The company is also developing strong relationships with organisations in Indonesia.

CEO Gary Davis said: “Of further encouragement is the fact that our growing sales team is securing new contracts in line with plans, and we expect to see their full effect on revenue plus further sales opportunities in the next financial year.

“Over the coming financial year we expect double-digit growth in revenue, EBITDA and profitability growth, as we continue the momentum in winning new clients and exploring new market opportunities. Maintaining our profitability as we expand is a key ambition. We will also continue to invest in R&D through a minimum 10% expansion in the R&D budget, allowing us to add to our core intellectual property and maintain our competitive advantage in the market.”

Mr Davis said the company was investigating “new market opportunities” in the areas of regulatory compliance, Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV), the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the fast growing market in Green Bonds, as well as bringing to market a range of off-the-shelf data products for the corporate market.

Ecometrica, which helps corporations, governments and organisations understand their environmental impact, is a Gold Partner of influential environmental monitoring group CDP for water, forests and climate change.

Chief Financial Officer Adrian Smith said that with the right investment, Ecometrica could scale up its profits considerably.

“This was a year of hyper-growth, but it highlights our need for strategic investment at an institutional level. We have grown revenue per FTE to £138,000 and with profits having trebled, it shows our profit capability – but now we need to prepare for scale. There is nothing other than our capital base stopping Ecometrica from becoming the de-facto Earth Observation and Sustainability software provider to governments and corporates alike.

“Our forward order book of contracts is currently twice our annual turnover, so the future is more certain than ever.”