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OPENING STATEMENT
Welcome to the first accredited report examining
Precision Engineering as an asset class.
Britain is famous for its strong tradition of engineering excellence,
stretching back to the industrial revolution. The UK’s engineering
sector has a global reputation as a world leader and innovator
across many disciplines such as the automotive and aerospace
industries. Its importance to the UK and EU is recognised by
local, national and EU support in the form of loans and grants.
Precision Engineering plays a significant role within the
Engineering Sector. Precision Engineers design, manufacture
and refurbish the machinery, tools and components that underpin
the manufacturing process and do so to an extremely high degree
of accuracy with components able to operate under extreme
conditions. Many of the engineering innovations to the automotive,
aerospace and oil and gas industries have originated from within
the Precision Engineering companies that service them.
Only about 1500
1
of the well over 500,000
2
engineering
enterprises in the UK are within the Precision Engineering
sub-sector. However, with rapid advancements in research
and development leading to more sophisticated and automated
manufacturing processes, the need for components which are
crafted to exacting specifications and capable of functioning
in very testing environments, is increasing, as is the demand
for the expertise to produce, replicate and maintain them.
This applies to several of the most important areas of the
economy, from nuclear & renewable energy, oil and gas, to
automotive and aerospace, as well as defence and transportation.
As industries continue to recover from the recent credit
crunch, the subsequent growth in manufacturing and cash
flow available for expansion is bringing new and profitable
opportunities to those Precision Engineering companies
with the funding, organisation and skills to seize them.
Investing in the UK Precision Engineering Sector is not a standard
investment, but a semi-tangible, alternative one with assets
and goodwill likely to be acquired on the purchase of a company.
Likewise, it is not one which has historically been on the radar
of smaller investors – structures and entry levels tend to attract
private equity, institutions and corporate money. But now there
are options for retail investors to get exposure to this asset class.
GuyTolhurst
Managing Director
Intelligent Partnership
COPYRIGHT © INTELLIGENT PARTNERSHIP 2015
EDITORIAL
Lisa Best
CREATIVE
Mar Alvarez
SUB-EDITING
Guy Tolhurst
Daniel Kiernan
RESEARCH
Samantha Goins
Jacobo Lazcan
MARKETING
Alex Evans
Michelle Powell
PRINT
Four Way
Print
