Subsea engineering technology specialist SMD has reported further growth in revenue and profits, with its chairman stating the company is on track towards achieving £100m in revenue. The firm, headquartered at Turbinia Works in Wallsend and owned by Chinese state-owned enterprise CSR Times Electric, has benefited from heightened global geopolitical tensions that have turned attention to the security of underwater cables and pipelines.
Financial Performance in 2025
New accounts for SMD Limited show that the 55-year-old company boosted its revenue from £76.5m to £85.7m in 2025, while operating profits increased from £8.7m to £9.4m. This growth reflects strong demand for the company's specialized equipment and services.
Core Business and Technologies
SMD is a world-leading builder of trenching equipment used to bury oil and gas pipelines, telecommunication cables, and renewable energy cables. The company also manufactures a range of remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) for inspection and construction tasks. Its Tyneside engineers have developed the Artemis cable and pipeline tracking system, which is used to locate and survey critical underwater connections.
Expansion and New Facilities
In October 2024, the 300-strong business opened its third North East base with the launch of the £3m SMD Tech Works at Neptune Energy Park on the River Tyne. This facility follows the opening of a distribution center at New York Industrial Estate and houses a test tank and development laboratories for research into new underwater technologies. The center is also central to SMD's pioneering work on electric ROVs, which, along with the logistics hub, spurred the recruitment of approximately 50 people last year.
Future Growth Plans
SMD aims to become a £150m revenue company by 2030, with the workforce potentially growing to between 400 and 450 employees in the same timeframe. Chairman Mike Jones emphasized the company's steady growth trajectory, stating: "We're continued to grow, and it's not a dramatic growth but a good, healthy, controllable growth." He highlighted the increased global focus on asset security, noting that SMD is "right at the heart of that" and has been a leader in this field for 50 years.
Jones also hinted at new technology developments in advanced controls and autonomy that could open up new subsea markets. He added: "We're on a strong growth trajectory. There's just generally more need for energy and more need to do that securely, and a lot of that is done offshore and underwater which is our area of expertise." He further noted the importance of the North East's cluster of subsea technology businesses to the local economy.
