Bodycote, the Macclesfield-based heat treatment and thermal processing giant, issued a trading update covering the four months to October 31, 2022.

Bodycote said total group revenue for the period grew 29% on last year to £258 million.

The company said it expects to deliver a full year result for 2022 in line with market expectations.

“AGI (automotive & general industrial) revenues, at £148m, were 24% higher than last year (up 21% at constant currency), while ADE revenues (aerospace, defence & energy), at £110m, were 35% higher than last year (up 24% at constant currency),” said Bodycote.

“Volume contributed 7% to revenue growth with foreign exchange translation contributing 7%.

“The revenue figure benefits from price increases and energy surcharges of approximately 15% in total.

“We introduced energy surcharges at the end of last year with the intention of covering the highly volatile costs of electricity and gas we have been experiencing.

“While there was initially a lag when these were first introduced, our price increases and surcharges have successfully covered all of our cost inflation in the period.

“As gas and electricity price increases have varied significantly between countries, the impact of surcharges on our revenues has differed in the same way.

“The AGI businesses are weighted more towards Western and Eastern Europe, where the highest increases in gas and electricity prices have been experienced.

“ADE businesses are weighted towards North America and our relatively lower energy-consuming Specialist Technologies.

“As a result, the impact on revenues during the period for the AGI businesses was 19%, whereas the impact for the ADE businesses was 10%. Underlying volumes in AGI grew 2% while volumes in ADE grew 14%.”