Aerospace division sale moves jobs from Tyneside to Teesside

The relocation of jobs and assets from Team Valley to a new facility near Middlesbrough has now been completed, as Express Engineering hands over its aerospace division to Paralloy Limited.

Gateshead-based Express Engineering sold its aerospace division for an undisclosed sum in order to focus on developing its subsea energy products business.

Gary Thirlwell, managing director of Express Engineering, said: “We have disposed of the aerospace business to focus on our core subsea products. Aerospace was a small, albeit profitable division, but is not part of our strategic focus.

“During the last year or two, we have been transforming Express Engineering through a new product strategy and investment in infrastructure that includes a new test and assembly facility. To continue to compete in global markets and provide customers with top quality subsea products and services we need to be fully focussed on that task and sector.”

The aerospace division has been bought by Paralloy Limited, a Nimbus LLC company, which has operations in Billingham, Middlesbrough, and Sheffield.

Thirlwell added: “We were delighted to find a buyer for this successful business; one who is committed to investing in it to make it a bigger enterprise. We’re also pleased to see that the skilled workforce, most of whom commuted to Team Valley from Teesside and North Yorkshire, will now be working much closer to home.”

Robert McGowan, CEO of Paralloy & FVC, said: “2020 has been a great year for Paralloy Ltd. Despite the difficult economic and trading conditions created by the pandemic in 2020, Paralloy continued to grow, invest, and more recently acquire the Express Engineering aerospace division, which is an ideal fit with our Firth Vickers Centrispinning business.

“A new company called Firth Vickers Engineering has been born out of this acquisition and is now established at the Tees Advanced Manufacturing Park in Middlesbrough. This strategic investment coupled with other investments in the pipeline ideally positions the business to offer turnkey supply and grow from strength to strength.”

Express Engineering originally acquired the aerospace business in 2013 from Burdon Engineering in Stokesley, North Yorkshire. The business continued to operate from this site until 2016, when it was moved and integrated within Express Engineering at a factory unit in Team Valley.

The sale of the division from one North East engineering company to another means that it will keep jobs and industry in the region, a success for both Tyneside and Teesside, as well as the local economy.