Turbo Genset powers forward

New business in some of its major target sectors — most notably a breakthrough in the aerospace industry — and a sharp fall in its losses helped power technology specialist Turbo Genset deliver an upbeat set of interim financial results.

Turbo Genset, which was founded by a team from London’s Imperial College in 1993, boosted sales by 68 per cent to £0.95m and cut its losses by 21 per cent to £3.6m in the first half of the year.

The company designs and manufactures innovative power systems that provide local, controllable electrical energy across three market sectors: turbine-based and variable speed gensets, high-speed motors, and drives and power electronics.

Turbo Genset’s biggest recent success saw its shares rise by over 20 per cent after the company announced a $20m (£11m) contract to provide technology for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s on-board fuel pumps. Their function is to fuel and de-fuel the aircraft, transfer fuel from the tanks to the main engine and jettison fuel when necessary. This was the firm’s first deal in the aerospace sector.

In a contract that is expected to last four to six years following the Dreamliner’s launch in 2008, Turbo Genset will supply the motor drive systems for FR-Hitemp’s on-board fuel pumps, which will be used on the aircraft. FR-Hitemp is a business unit within Cobham, the UK aerospace and defence group.

Michael Hunt, chief executive of Turbo Genset, said: ‘Being asked to work on an international aerospace programme of this importance represents a strong endorsement of our power electronics skills. This contract is a significant step in the development of our electrical machines revenue stream.’

Turbo Genset also revealed last week that ALC, a technology innovation specialist in the oil and gas sector, has selected the company to supply a high-performance motor for an oilfield application in a project sponsored and funded by a major international energy group.

The £225,000 agreement covers an 18-month development phase, including field trials which, subject to successful results, could lead to exclusive manufacturing rights for future volume production.

Turbo Genset claimed the worldwide market for the technology under development could exceed 600,000 wells. ‘This represents another exciting breakthrough into a new market for our high-speed electrical machines,’ said Hunt.

In a further boost, Turbo Genset said it has received confirmation of a contract from Lotus Engineering for the development of a hybrid vehicle motor drive system.