Hardide, the Bicester-based producer of revolutionary super-hard coatings for drills used in the oil business, has seen its turnover jump Figures show a rise of £1.89m for the year ending September 30th, up from £0.69m for the last accounting period.

Hardide was formed in 2000 to exploit technology for producing super-hard coating for steel components such as oil drill bits which had been developed in Soviet Russia.

The company turned in a pre-tax loss of £1.84m but chief executive Jim Murray-Smith was upbeat.

He said: "These results are in line with expectations and demonstrate Hardide's continued strong growth.

"The opening of the US manufacturing facility in Houston, which was achieved ahead of schedule and on budget, will further drive budget."

The company, which floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in April, 2005, raised £2.34m by issuing new shares between December and May for research and development and to finance the US office.

It now employs 25 people in its Bicester office, up from 21 at the end of 2005, and five at its Houston office (up from two last year.) Mr Murray-Smith said: "These results were achieved despite two short-term customer related issues outside of our control which affected the company's performance against market forecasts."

He added: "Crucially field testing continues to produce impressive results with the majority of customers going on to incorporate the Hardide technology."