Spirax-Sarco is the undisputed thoroughbred of Cheltenham
Summary
Spirax-Sarco is one of those businesses that politicians adore: a high-end manufacturer operating in sectors where there is strong demand for its products, providing skilled jobs and selling much of what it produces for the export market. At its most recent results, in which headline pre-tax profits rose by 11%, to £254.6m, chief executive Nicholas Anderson could point out that sales had grown more quickly - at 7% for the year - than the 3.3% growth seen for global industrial production as a whole. Its customers are based in a wide range of industries, including food and drink, healthcare, mining, oil and gas and pharmaceuticals. The group admitted today that, to an extent, its growth in the Asia-Pacific had been supported by some one-off projects and by "customer requests to pull forward sales ahead of the recent changes to VAT in China". Similar factors were at play in Europe, where the company enjoyed what it called "a modest benefit from customers building buffer stocks ahead of the UKs anticipated exit from the European Union".