A COMPANY that makes protective coatings for industries including oil and gas and aerospace is to hire more staff.

Bicester’s Hardide is to take on an extra three people as it prepares to use a new reactor by Christmas. The reactors are like giant vacuum chambers in which Hardide’s patented coatings are applied to surfaces atom by atom.

The new reactor is intended to increase production by 50 per cent at the firm, which has 29 employees. It is being funded by a £2.5m issue of shares in August, Hardide’s fourth since 2009.

Some of the proceeds will also be used to fund a new facility in the US, where Hardide is talking to various states about a location.Chief executive Philip Kirkham said: “We’re in the final stages of negotiations.”

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The company’s patented nanotechnology-based tungsten carbide coatings filled a gap in the market, he said, adding: “We want to make ourselves attractive as an acquisition for a major player at some point in the future.”

The US facility is not due to be operational until the 2016/17 financial year at the earliest.

Although Hardide posted a 20 per cent fall in North American revenue to £550,000 in the year to September 30, orders rose 28 per cent over the same period, the company announced last week.

This was partly due to a new contract with GE that began in the second half of the 2014 financial year, and which has guaranteed minimum sales of £800k over the two years to February 2016. Mr Kirkham said: “There’s the potential for a lot more business from GE.”

The firm is also looking for new growth in the German and Italian markets, which it entered in the past year, as well as fracking tools in the natural gas industry.

Hardide recorded a 28 per cent rise in revenue to £3.03m in the 2014 financial year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were £122,000, a turnaround from a £225,000 loss in 2013.

In the last year a major customer reduced its orders to counteract overstocking in 2012.

Hardide posted a £161,000 profit after tax in 2014, compared to a loss of £848,000 in 2013.

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