Printed circuit board manufacturer Trackwise Designs had released a trading update, showing a rise in full year revenues.

The Tewkesbury-headquartered firm's revenues reached approximately £8.08m in 2021, up from £6.07m the year before.

It also revealed an adjusted operating loss of approximately £540,000 - in line with market expectations.

Trackwise said it had achieved record Improved Harness Technology (IHT) revenues of £1.43m during the period, a 143 per cent increase on the year before. It continues to grow its opportunities across electric vehicle, medical and aerospace markets.

In line with the previously announced product manufacture and supply agreement worth up to £54 million over the next three years, the firm said it had received orders for Q1 and Q2 of the current financial year from its UK EV OEM customer that now total in excess of £3.5m. It expects to receive further orders for Q3 and Q4 in due course.

The new Stonehouse plant, announced last year to increase IHT manufacturing capacity, has continued to progress in line with the recent fundraise announcement and the company remains on track to deliver the remainder of the agreed volumes with its UK EV OEM customer.

Trackwise also announced in the update that Paul Cook had been appointed as chief financial officer (CFO) effective January 10. Mr Cook is said to be working alongside current CFO, Mark Hodgkins, who is retiring, to effect a smooth transition of responsibilities, before taking over from Mark at the Annual General Meeting in June.

Mr Cook is a finance professional and has held senior positions at several technology-driven manufacturing businesses selling into international markets, including Access IS, a manufacturer of scanning devices, and Sonatest, a manufacturer of portable non-destructive testing equipment. He was also project manager for PCB manufacturer, SMS Electronics.

Most recently, he was chief operating and compliance officer at YFM Equity Partners ("YFM"), a leading private equity and venture capital investor, where he worked for a period of more than eight years.

Philip Johnston, CEO of Trackwise, said: "2021 was another year of continued progress in Trackwise's development. Notwithstanding the various challenges posed by an uncertain economic environment, we continued to build out our operations to lay the foundations for sustainable, long-term growth.

"At the same time, we saw record sales performance in our IHT division, the most exciting growth area for the company, expanding our agreement with our electric vehicle customer and successfully growing our pipeline of opportunities across our chosen markets, underpinning future growth.

"Industry-wide pressures, particularly in the supply chain, are likely to persist as we move through this year, but we are experienced at mitigating against them and will continue to do so as necessary. 

"Supported by an increasingly robust organisational infrastructure and with a highly desirable product that has a growing reputation, the board is confident 2022 will see continued progress in the company's commercial and operational development and looks forward to the future with optimism."