Company Report: Peerless Europe Limited
Making energy safe, efficient and clean Peerless Europe is leading the way in the provision of clean, safe and efficient energy solutions. Managing Director Barry Nesbit explains how the company has built such a reputation for excellence

BM Silencers at a compressor station

Peerless separators

Env systems

As its name suggests, Peerless Europe’s expertise in the design and supply of systems for the energy industry is unrivalled. Its filtration equipment and environmental systems are developed with the safety and efficiency of energy in mind. Managing Director, Barry Nesbit, has been with the company from its formation in 1992. It was founded as the UK subsidiary of Peerless Mfg Co, based in Dallas, Texas, in order to better serve its customers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

“My original goals and objectives were to drive Peerless Europe from its more modest sized origins to a significant player in the market,” Nesbit explains. “I believe we have come a long way since those days, although we have a great deal still to achieve.”

Indeed it has. The company can now boast a presence in many energy sectors, including gas production, processing and transportation chemical, petrochemical and refining; and power generation, using both fossil and nuclear fuels. “Peerless provides the complete solution, not necessarily component parts, for a wide range of applications and markets,” Nesbit adds.

SAFE ENERGY
The product range may be varied, but Peerless Europe remains true to its mission - creating energy that is “safe, efficient and clean”. The range includes Peerless and Burgess-Manning gas/liquid separation and filtration products. These high efficiency products remove entrained liquid and solid contaminants from vapours and liquids, as Nesbit explains: “The cornerstone of the Peerless environmental systems business is its selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems, for the reduction of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) from exhaust gases,” he says, adding that the system is universally recognised as the Best Available Technology for this purpose. Meanwhile, its Burgess-Manning industrial silencers are industry leaders in noise and pulsation control.

Finally, its Skimovex wastewater treatment systems are utilised on onshore and offshore operations. They are used for the treatment of oily water, industrial effluent and ground water.

“The end users, or owners, are the energy ‘majors’,” explains Nesbit. “Mostly, however, our equipment is sold to the engineering and construction companies who build the facilities owned by the ‘majors’.”

End users include Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Statoil, Sonatrach, ADNOC, Eon and National Power.

OUTLOOK
Those are big names. Despite this, few companies in the energy industry were left unaffected by the global economic downturn, and Peerless Europe is no exception. Nesbit acknowledges that there was a slow down in investment in energy infrastructure projects. “We had seen several major construction projects, planned to be executed earlier last year, being postponed or even cancelled by their owners.

“A year ago, the outlook was uncertain, particularly in the UK and Europe, although in North Africa and the Middle East, where much of our equipment is destined, we did not experience quite the same reduction in opportunities.

“In the last three months, however, the picture has changed. It is becoming more positive, with confidence returning. Major infrastructure projects are now coming back to the construction phase,” Nesbit concludes.

Of course, this had a knock-on effect on finances at the company. Even Peerless Europe’s parent company suffered, as both experienced a decline in performance during the latter half of 2009. Nesbit explains that they started the calendar year with a strong and profitable order book. At the end of the financial year in June, Peerless reported “excellent” results, revenue and profit.

“This current financial year, commencing July 2009, began with a lower order book than the previous and, due to increased competition, slightly lower profit expectations.” But Nesbit remains positive, as Peerless Europe remains on track to meet its targets this year.

Not only that, but he explains that there are likely to be additions to its 33-strong workforce in the UK. Nesbit says the company is planning to bring in additional project management and engineering disciplines to support the planned growth in sales of its environmental systems in Europe, “to meet the ever more stringent regulations that are being imposed for plant exhaust emissions, as well as our packaged gas processing systems worldwide”.

FUTURE OFFERINGS
Not one to sit on its laurels, Peerless Europe has ambitious plans for the future. Nesbit explains that the next step is to invest in the right strategic partner, and that it has targets “identified”.

“We are seeking to broaden our geographical base, to enable us to provide more offerings to a larger customer base; in particular, to those in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union,” he adds. “We have also recently opened a direct sales office in the Qatar and will continue to expand this facility to better serve this large market for all Peerless’ products.”

Meanwhile, two other focus areas are product development and acquisition. The company will either utilise its own Research & Technology department to organically grow improvements to its existing technology, or it will acquire companies that possess technologies compatible with Peerless, according to Nesbit.

He maintains that Peerless is only as good as the people it employs and, for that reason, the training, development and mentoring of staff is ongoing. “I benefited from a balanced, structured training and development programme, and I am handing this culture down as much as possible,” states Nesbit.

We believe Peerless Europe and its expansion is an exciting prospect, and that this is a company to follow in the future.

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