Goodfellow to hit the acquisition trail

International expansion and accelerating the acquisition trail will be key priorities for a UK supplier of advanced materials and metals in 2025. Goodfellow, which employs 140 people globally, has set its sights on increasing group sales to more than £30 million through a combination of new material ranges, organic growth and targeting potential companies that add new capabilities, additional products or geographic reach.

CEO Simon Kenney (pictured) believes last year’s investment in ERP (enterprise resource planning) software and the launch of a new intuitive website will be key to achieving these aims, not to mention tapping into significant demand from global customers in the medical device, battery development, space exploration, electrification and fusion sectors.

Kenney also outlines his firm’s ability to provide 98% of materials in 48 hours as a major differential and something he wants to build on: “Last year was all about laying the foundations for growth in 2025, from enhancing operational performance and the customer journey – through our digital transformation project – to the strategic purchase of Potomac Photonics. The latter represents our inaugural US manufacturing facility and gives us microfabrication capabilities for the first time. It’s the type of deal we want to do more of over the next 12 months.”

He continues: “The UK market has been challenging, not just for us but for other businesses in our area of expertise. International sales are where we see the big opportunity, with Goodfellow customers now present in more than 60 different countries. For example, a new distribution agreement with MicroPlanet in 2024 is projected to boost turnover in the Iberian market by 50% alone.”

Goodfellow, which received an investment from Battery Ventures in 2021, supplies a range of metals, alloys, ceramics, polymers, compounds and composites. The company serves customers in the R&D, advanced engineering, space and scientific sectors, with subsidiaries across Europe, North America and China helping it extend its global reach. From its HQ in Cambridge, the material specialist also provides a range of post processing facilities, including rolling, electroplating, sputtering, heat treatment, disk punching/turning and guillotining/sawing.

“We’ve seen increased demand for specialist metals and materials to support global R&D projects,” says Kenney. “Our ongoing investment in stockholding allows us to meet this requirement and there’s been a definite shift towards needing materials quickly for prototype work, which is where our ‘no minimum’ order quantity comes into its own.”

He adds: “Another important development in 2024 was increasing our 170,000-strong product range even further with the addition of three new ranges, including custom alloy powders, high-entropy alloy powders, metal microfoils and rare earth metal oxides. The intention is to introduce a new collection of premium materials early this year.”

Goodfellow, which was named in the ‘Best Places to Work 2024′ list by The Sunday Times, is actively looking to recruit, with positions available in the UK and across its international facilities.