A manufacturer of winter maintenance vehicles has reported growth in its latest results underpinned by further investment in the business.
Econ Engineering employs 250 staff and makes more than 85 per cent of the UK’s winter road maintenance vehicles.
It supplies gritters, hot boxes and tippers to hundreds of local councils and contractors across the UK.
Recently filed accounts show the company recorded turnover of £52.5m in the year ending 31 March 2024, up from £47.9m in 2022/23.
Pre-tax profit increased to £11.6m from £9.5m the previous year.
In their report accompanying the accounts, the directors said: “Econ has had another successful year of trading, with increased operations at Ripon from the introduction of new technology and additional plant and machinery purchased, to maximise production of our products and improve efficiency.
“Sowerby Service centre continues to operate at full capacity servicing the hire fleet and preparing vehicles for the Secondhand market. In addition to the Sowerby site further hire fleet servicing is taking place at our depots in Alloa, Cardiff and Halesworth. This has allowed the company to expand the hire fleet and continue to provide excellent customer service across the country.”
In January, Econ Engineering announce that it had secured a contract to supply a fully-electric vehicle. UK highways specialist Ringway signed up to take delivery of the company’s E-QCB (Electric Quick Change Body).
The directors added: “The technical development team at Econ have been working hard developing our next generation of electric vehicles including the Electric QCB (EQCB), and work is still ongoing to ensure we develop our product range further. Electrification of commercial vehicles are becoming more important with the environmental targets set by the government and we are committed to be able to offer electric winter maintenance vehicles to our customers.
“Econ continues to research the use of other environmentally friendly vehicle solutions in conjunction with our current electric range.”
Econ Engineering has its headquarters in Ripon, a service centre in Sowerby and depots in Alloa and Cardiff.
Gareth Legg, operations director at Econ Engineering, was part of an Insider event that discussed the future of manufacturing earlier this year.
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