Kel-Tech Engineering, which employs more than 100 people in Waterford, is confident that heavy investment in marketing will continue to grow turnover and will return the business to profitability, the directors have said.

In notes to accounts just filed, which show Kel-Tech Engineering Waterford Ltd making a pretax loss of €190,066 in the year to the end of June 2014, the directors said that during the year the company continued to invest heavily in marketing, producing a modest increase in turnover.

“An increase in turnover is envisaged for the next year and beyond. The company has also continued to diversify the customer profile, mitigating future swings in demand from existing market trends,” they said.

In 2012 the company announced 55 compulsory redundancies because its largest customer had said it would be scaling back and the loss of turnover would be significant. The accounts just filed show employment during the 2014 financial year, including executive directors, averaged 111, up from an average of 92 the previous year.

Total staff costs were €3.9 million, up from €3.4 million.

In their report accompanying the accounts, the directors said they were confident that the increase in turnover would bring the company back to profitability in the coming year.

“This combined with adequate bank facilities in place, affirms the directors’ confidence in the future of the company,” they said.

The company could not be contacted yesterday. The company’s website says it is Ireland’s leading precision fabrication and turning facility. It was founded by Ray Breen in 1988. The company has grown steadily in the last 20 years but most especially in the past five years.