Drive DeVilbiss Sidhil turnover jumps to £26.1m but profits dip in 2019
Drive DeVilbiss Sidhil has reported a £3.1m increase in turnover for the year ended 31st December 2019, however, saw operating profit decline by £550k.
Established in 1888, the Sidhil Group has grown over the past 130 years to become a leading British manufacturer of beds and furniture in the homecare, acute care and long-term care markets.
In 2017, the company was purchased by Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare and became Drive DeVilbiss Sidhil.
In its latest annual report, Drive DeVilbiss Sidhil saw turnover increase by 13.9 per cent against the previous year, from £22.96m in 2018 to £26.1m in 2019.
Despite the increase in turnover, the Yorkshire-based manufacturer reported a slight decline in operating profit, falling from £4.4m in 2018 to £3.9m in 2019.
Notably, Drive DeVilbiss Sidhil’s annual report revealed that administrative expenses had increased by over half a million from 2018 to 2019.
According to the organisation’s strategic report, however, there was a consequential increase in operating profit before depreciation of 3.4 per cent to £5.8m against 2018’s £5.6m.
In addition, the company’s EBITDA margin – a measure of a company’s operating profit as a percentage of its revenue – declined slightly from 2018’s 24.6 per cent to 22.3 per cent in 2019 – still markedly up against 2017’s 15.9 per cent.
Increasing its investment into R&D, spending £590k in 2019 compared to £567k the previous year, the company noted that it continues to focus on expanding and improving its ranges, with a particular mention to its ‘assistive technologies’ portfolio.
Touching on its response to COVID-19 in 2020, Drive DeVilbiss Sidhil detailed several measures it implemented during lockdown to enable it to continue operating throughout the pandemic, including introducing homeworking, bringing in COVID-secure measures at its sites, as well as prohibiting non-essential travel and face-to-face meetings.
During the height of the pandemic, Drive DeVilbiss Sidhil quickly designed and produced its Rapid Deployment (RD) bed range to meet the swelling demand across the health and social care sector.
As a key supplier to the NHS and its supply chain, the company also confirmed that the coming Brexit disruption will unlikely have a significant impact on its operations due to the majority of its business taking place in the UK. According to the report, export only accounted for £20k of its total £26.1m in total sales.
