OFFSHORE ELECTRONICS is thriving in the best market conditions for the manufacturing sector in Britain for nearly a decade. The local firm, created by a management buy-out of Eurotherm Guernsey in 1990, has recorded another year of record profits.

‘Our home-grown talent is showing that a Guernsey company really can compete worldwide,’ said managing director Steve Marshall. ‘Over the past year we have secured new business in both Guernsey and the UK and orders for 2007 are at record levels so far.’

Staffing has stayed fairly consistent – at about 65, many of whom have been at the company since day one – while turnover has risen sixfold.

‘It was rapid growth to start with and that has filtered out as we have become a more mature company.’

The firm has contracts worldwide and aims to add one or two customers each year. ‘We work hard to get them. It’s much easier to keep them than to get them.’

Mr Marshall said his company could not compete with the Far East on low-cost, low-value items so it concentrated on high added value, provided by a skilled workforce, and heavy use of technology.

‘Jobs which used to be manual labour are now nearly all done by equipment. All the staff we have are highly skilled technically. It’s a complete change from the skills of the early days, when it was relatively low-tech manufacturing products.’

Offshore Electronics sub-contracts for others and does not make anything it sells itself, but products are available locally with its components, including marine equipment and satellite navigation systems.

It also makes parts for the 5,000-camera London Underground CCTV network, which was heavily used in investigations into the bombings of 2005.

It is a major supplier to the safety equipment sector in the Middle East’s oil and gas industries.

Offshore Electronics is enjoying success at a boom time for British manufacturing. Official figures have shown the sector is enjoying its best period for eight years, with the strength of the world economy helping firms in spite of a strong pound.

Manufacturing output, which accounts for 15% of the UK economy, rose 0.2% in June from May, the fourth monthly increase in a row, which last happened in 1999. Output has risen to levels last seen six years ago.

The recovery is said to be ‘reasonably widespread’ but particularly strong in high value-added areas such as capital goods, aerospace and pharmaceuticals, driven by demand from China and India.

‘It’s certain sectors doing well. I wouldn’t want to be in some of the older industries which are heavily labour intensive, as they will go to the Far East and eastern Europe where labour is less than 50p an hour.’