Pre-tax profits fall by more than £5m at Liverpool city region-based global metals and mineral inspection and analysis firm Alfred H Knight in a ‘year of transition’ for the business. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool city region-based global metals and mineral inspection and analysis firm Alfred H Knight (AHK) is reporting a rise in annual revenues from £202.3m to £206.5m.
However the business, based in Prescot, is reporting a fall in pre-tax profits for the 12 months to December 31, 2024, to £13.9m from £19.3m in the previous year. The year also saw the acquisitions of Dr Amin Controllers in India and Grinding Solutions in the UK.
These deals, the company said in its annual report posted on Companies House, had allowed it to expand its capability in the agriculture and metallurgy fields. 2024 also saw AHK secure the King’s Award for Enterprise in the innovation category.
Founded by Alfred Henry Knight in 1881, the company began its life in Swansea providing independent inspection and analytical services to the metals and minerals industry. Since the mid-1980s its headquarters have been in Merseyside.
Still run by the Knight family, it is now established as an international organisation, with a network of offices and laboratories in more than 45 countries around the world. The firm employs more than 4,700 across the world, up from 4,241 in 2023.
It moved from Eccleston Grange, St Helens to a larger premise in King’s Business Park in Prescot in 2015, subsequently extending its footprint by investing in the new purpose-built John Knight Laboratory in 2017.
Having outgrown this laboratory, a new Copper laboratory was developed a short distance away in Knowsley Business Park.
AHK plays an essential role in the global commodity supply chain that provides essential services for finished products. These include medical devices, electronics and sensors, and industries such as energy, utilities, automotive and aerospace.
It is also enjoying growth thanks to the increasing demand for renewable energy. It has pursued opportunities involving recycled materials to support the growth of battery technology.
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“Organic expansion continues via complementary business lines and the group continues to pursue new opportunities with particular emphasis on the circular economy,” the annual report added.
“The energy services division, after several years of investment, won several key contracts.
“…The group continues to make significant investment in our colleagues through our management development programme and to recruit and develop our next generation of staff through our apprenticeship and graduate schemes.”