Energy and environment consultancy UES, based in Ystrad Mynach, has restructured and rebranded after reporting a turnover of £1.3 million and growth of more than 50%.
The company has rebranded itself as UES Energy to better reflect the core activities of the business.
Andrew Diplock, previously the commercial director, has become the managing director. He joined the business in 2003, shortly after Andrew Padmore founded it.
Mr Padmore has become a non-executive director with UES Energy but is now concentrating on setting up a sister business in the renewable energy sector.
Operations and Finance Director Gruff Dodd has also taken a larger stake in the business and the company is also in the process of recruiting more people to take on specific roles.
Mr Diplock, who is also chair of Caerphilly Business Forum, said: “These are exciting times for all of us. The hard work of the whole team over the last eight years has resulted in sustained growth and turnover between April 2010 and March 2011 of £1.3 million – an increase of 51.6% on the previous year which is outstanding – and profits have remained very healthy too.
“Of course, the last eight years have not just been about growth but about adapting to the numerous developments in our markets, seizing new opportunities that have arisen and refocusing our operations.
“Recently, changes in the energy and environmental markets have come thick and fast and so we’ve restructured and rebranded the business to bring it perfectly into line with them. UES Energy is now in the position we wanted to be in to move forward and expand further.
“Although we’ve worked with clients across the whole of the UK for some time, we understandably had a higher proportion of clients in South Wales where we are based.
“But our solid foundations and outstanding track record are increasingly encouraging business from much further afield to open their doors to us and we are now positioning ourselves as a Welsh business working across the UK.”
The factors that led to the huge increase in turnover also include new opportunities for green energy and reduction in carbon footprints but, above all, the soaring costs of energy. Between April 2010 and March 2011 wholesale gas prices increased by around 75% and electricity prices by 45%.
“Obviously the amount of energy consumed varies significantly from business to business and sector to sector but typically energy may account for around 20% of a business’s costs,” said Mr Diplock.
“So when energy prices increase by such huge amounts, they can have profound impact on a business. This has made energy costs a boardroom issue. More and more businesses have been addressing this and have turned to us for help.
“Although both gas and electricity prices have fluctuated significantly since April 2010, making them difficult to predict, the trend of rising energy costs is only expected to continue in the long-run so we expect this to remain a key issue for businesses for the foreseeable future.
“And there has been some good news in the energy markets with new opportunities in renewable energy arising, enabling some businesses to reduce energy bills or carbon emissions or both. This has contributed to the growth of our client base too and is likely to continue for some time to come.”