This purchase comes after the company reported strong numbers for its financial year ending June 2019. Turnover for that period increased 28% from £103.9m to £132.9m following growth from multiple areas driven by investments made in the previous year.
This robust performance has also seen CAE enter the Sunday Times Profit Track at No. 26, a chart which ranks Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing profits.
The new facility in Hemel increases the building capacity from 18,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet and will provide a home for central business functions, warehousing, configuration and an enhanced state of the art Service Desk and NOC environment.
Speaking about the purchase and its timing CAE Chief Executive, Justin Harling, commented, “The CAE team is our most valuable asset and we had identified the need to provide them with the best possible work environment prior to the onset of Covid-19. Although the short term is difficult to predict, we know that this is the right move for the long-term success of CAE and will allow us to work even more effectively with our customers, partners and suppliers. In addition, our inclusion in the Sunday Times Profit Track rankings is testament to the effort the whole CAE team has put into continued growth, allowing strong investment decisions to be made. The supportive finance structure means that there is no overlap in costs in this purchase which makes strong financial sense for us.
Working from home in the past few weeks has proved that we can adapt, and we have developed new processes and different ways of working to keep everybody in our supply chain supported and engaged. However, it is clear that for optimum employee collaboration and wellbeing, we need a combination of time both in, and out, of an office environment. Our intention is to provide the very best of both.
We have been in the current HQ for nearly 20 years and the hard work and drive of everyone at CAE has achieved the growth that necessitates the move. CAE has always and will always put the needs and wellbeing of its staff first and it is right that we can repay their effort and commitment by investing in our future. This new HQ demonstrates our belief that planning for the long term is the right way to build a strong business with a bright future.”