Revenue at Irish engineer Mincon ahead of last year

Revenue at Irish engineering group Mincon is currently ahead of last year for the first four months, the company said in a trading update on Monday.

The group, which specialises in the design, manufacture, sale and servicing of rock-drilling tools and associated products, said it was experiencing “good order levels in most markets, with a positive momentum building across the business”.

Sea freight lead times “remain challenging” due to the pandemic, and the company is using air freight where necessary to overcome these freight challenges. “We curtailed other overheads to compensate for any increased freight costs,” it said.

“Covid-19 had an impact on some of our key manufacturing facilities in the early part of the year. In particular the beginning of 2021 was challenging for production in our key hammer facility in Shannon, as we endeavoured to ensure we remained Covid-free.

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“This situation gradually improved, and by the end of March our production levels had recovered and pushed ahead of the 2020 run rate.”

In terms of future investment, Mincon said it would continue to advance the business of the group through investing in new product development and manufacturing methods.

“In January we ordered equipment for new manufacturing techniques to drive efficiency and to reduce manufacturing costs and carbon emissions,” it said.

“In April 2021, the group was successful in its grant application, as lead member in a consortium, to the Disruptive Technology Innovation Fund promoted by the Irish Government to develop a new robotic seabed drilling system, along with the installation and testing of marine anchors using micropile technology.

“These micropiled anchor foundations will be used for a wide range of applications, including offshore wind turbines.”