Just days after securing a mega half billion pounds deal to build 1,000 buses for British operator Go-Ahead, new financial figures for Wrightbus in Ballymena reveal that its sales last year grew by a whopping £120 million and it recruited more than 400 additional staff.
But given legacy issues at the company - which was bought out of administration by industrialist Jo Bamford in 2019 - it still made a trading loss.
The principal activity of Bamford Bus Company Ltd, which has its head office registered in Oxford, is the manufacture of electric and hydrogen-powered buses, and its production levels soared in 2023.
Turnover soared by 71% from £163.3 million to £283.4 million, but Bamford Bus Co made a pre-tax loss of £6.3 million compared with a profit of £1.4m in 2022.
In a strategic report filed with the accounts, the directors said the results were in line with expectations as the company continues to implement its expansion plans while simultaneously investing heavily in research and development.
They say that 2023 saw the successful launch of a left-hand drive hydrogen fuel cell bus compliant with all German regulations, which adds to the firm’s full complement of both single- and double-deck variants across all drive-lines - diesel, hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric.
As the bus industry accelerates its transition to zero emissions, Wrightbus has successfully managed a corresponding shift in the skills of its workforce, with many more employees having electrical engineering and hydrogen gas engineering expertise.
Its workforce during the course of 2023 rose by more than 400 from 868 to 1,289, with production employee staff numbers soaring from 572 to 991. The firm’s wages bill is now £46.7m.
The accounts show that the vast majority of the company’s £283.4m turnover is in the sale of buses, but that total also included £11.7m in selling parts.
Broken down by geographic location, £241m of the company’s revenues were derived in the UK, with £38m coming in the Republic and the other £4m-plus coming in the rest of Europe.
The directors say the number of buses Wrightbus will produce this year will further spiral, and already in 2024 it has registered 786 buses, which is 250 more than its nearest rivals in Europe and 500 more than the Chinese-owned BYD (Build Your Dreams) electric bus manufacturer.
Just days ago, Wrightbus secured the most lucrative deal in its 78-year history and to build more than 1,000 zero-emission buses for the multi-national transport British operator Go-Ahead Group over the next three years, which will safeguard 500 green jobs at the plant, create multiple training and up-skilling opportunities, and will also support an additional 1,500 across the UK supply chain.
Chief executive Jean-Marc Gales described the £500m deal as “momentous” not just for Wrightbus and Ballymena, but for the wider manufacturing industry, while Labour’s Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said it would grow the UK economy as well as deliver cleaner air and better journeys.