MIRA – the advanced engineering, research and test consultancy – has announced a fourth successive year of growth, with the company reaching a record annual turnover of £43.5m.The latest financial results, which also show an increase in Gross Margin and Surplus (17 per cent and 21 per cent respectively), reflect the business’ continued success.
Having set itself an ambitious growth strategy in 2010, MIRA Ltd has since achieved an overall 34 per cent growth, despite an increasingly challenging economic environment. The strategy, which incorporates three key areas; growing its core engineering and testing business through diversification, expanding overseas operations and developing the MIRA Technology Park at its UK headquarters in Nuneaton led to a number of key achievements during 2012.
A significant internal restructure saw the creation of a matrix structure of customer facing Product Groups and capability/resource Function Groups. In addition, activities in a number of areas have flourished including the delivery of a major UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) upgrade programme to the MOD, increased demand in MIRA’s expertise in evaluating software based systems as a result of ISO 26262.
“2012 was a harder year than anyone expected,” commented Dr George Gillespie, Chief Executive Officer, MIRA Ltd. “Yet despite the challenges that we, and our customers, faced we have managed to deliver another year of growth. I am extremely proud of that, and our determination to achieve our vision remains unfaltered.”
MIRA also significantly increased its R&D spend in 2012, as Gillespie added: “I am pleased to report that R&D spend increased by 22 per cent to two per cent of total turnover and, if combined with grant funded collaborative projects, it actually increases to five per cent.”
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2012 also saw MIRA firmly establish its international footprint. Legal entities were created in India and China, and a number of international partnerships – for example in Korea and also as a result of the existing MIRA operation in Brazil – were also developed.
“2012 has been a significant year in the global expansion of MIRA,” explained Dr Gillespie, “Something that will be key to the overall long-term growth of our business.”
As MIRA continues to flourish, so too does MIRA Technology Park. The technology park development granted Enterprise Zone status in August 2011, has continued apace during 2012. Endorsed by Secretary of State Eric Pickles in January 2012, the Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable later visited the site to open the first completed building – the 43,000 sq. ft. Control Centre – in November. At the same event MIRA announced the first businesses to be based at the site, which included Bosch Engineering, Ashok Leyland, Norgren, Triumph Motorcycles and Lockheed Martin.
Since 2010 a total of 240 technology-related jobs have been created as a result of the Technology Park development, with a further 100 expected to be created by the end of 2013.
