How Paralloy Group’s acquisitions in France and the UK help serve petrochemical, nuclear, and defense customers
Following its rapid expansion since 2019, Paralloy Group’s employee numbers have increased from around 220 to 1200 people. What’s more, the international manufacturer’s annual revenue has rocketed from roughly £30 million to over £200 million, and it has foundries, fabrication shops, and machining sites stretching from the Midlands to the north of England – and all the way across to France.
That growth has come through acquisitions on both sides of the Channel, new facilities such as TeesAMP in Middlesbrough, UK, and continuous development of patented alloys. Remarkably, Paralloy Group has endured the Covid-19 pandemic, the energy crisis, a shipping crisis, and a year of tariffs and wars. According to CEO Robert McGowan, the pace is deliberate. “It’s no short-term fluke,” he tells us. “The rate of change has been significant and sustained, and it’s our long-term strategy.”
Based primarily in the UK, Paralloy Group is a stainless steel and special nickel alloy manufacturer, serving numerous critical markets. Sectors include petrochemicals (ethylene, hydrogen, and ammonia), nuclear, gas turbine, defense, aerospace, and general stainless steel.
“Our foundries can produce parts from five kilos up to 20 tons,” Robert continues. “We also offer centrifugal casting, which involves spinning a die to get near-net shapes and tubes, either vertically or horizontally, pouring in the liquid metal as it spins.”
Robert describes the petrochemical sector as ‘without doubt’ the biggest contributor. “At the beginning of 2026, we acquired a Hachette et Driout, which has been rebranded Firth Vickers France (Firth Vickers). This is a modern French foundry focused historically on mining but with a strategic and growing critical foothold in the nuclear sector – every nuclear power plant in France and the UK supplied by EDF has our components in it.”
Engineering demands across these critical markets may differ, but for Paralloy Group, it has three core values: Innovation, Excellence and Commitment. “Our core values apply across the entire manufacturing process, from metallurgy through to fully integrated turnkey solutions,” Robert elaborates. “Our philosophy is to solve other people’s problems. The standards differ enormously between nuclear, turbines, marine, aerospace, and high-temperature pressurized systems in petrochemical, which means we have a lot of engineering talent. It’s not just about producing components. It’s about engineering solutions that meet every standard.”
Not only has Paralloy Group acquired competitors in France, but it has also invested in several UK companies over the last four years, including Express Engineering Energy Division, Nexus Drilling, Manoir Industries, Manoir Pitres, as well as establishing Paralloy Group Services (PGS). “Through the formation of PGS we’ve expanded into service this year, with a department that can project manage and install the large fabrications that we manufacture anywhere in the world,” Robert reveals.
“The Firth Vickers name goes back to the invention of stainless steel; to Thomas Firth and Sons, and to the Vickers brand, which is more than 100 years old,” he notes. “Our Sheffield site is the last operating site tied to the original business. We supplied some of the very first stainless-steel components for the Frank Wittle jet engines of the Second World War from that site.
“When we acquired the French assets, the petrochemical operations were branded Manoir France and formed part of the Petrochemical Division of Paralloy Group. The new nuclear, defense, and energy operations were absorbed into the UK Energy Division, Firth Vickers, due to the shared materials, customers, markets and specifications as the UK Firth Vickers companies, and they now form part of the Energy Division. However, the two Divisions aren’t mutually exclusive – we share best practices, materials, metals, yield optimization, product knowledge, and skills, from precision machining to complex metallurgy. Legally they’re separate, but they work hand in glove.”
Robert also highlights how integration focuses heavily on people and developing younger talent. “We have some of the best foundrymen and engineers in Europe in our field, and new talent can learn from them. Over time, we’ve released some of that experienced talent to group level, where they act as internal consultants, sharing best practice and supporting activities across the group.”
This high level of talent is integral to Paralloy Group’s continuous innovation, along with prolonged, steady investment in R&D, and process industrialization, trials, and approvals, all of which can differ depending on the customer. “A Rolls-Royce approval can take many years, and so can approvals in the nuclear sector,” says Robert. “Once you have it, and you maintain the standards you have a long runway of opportunity with high barriers to entry in those sectors”
The group boasts multiple unique patents, with a large number of PhDs in France and the UK who contribute to driving the development of material solutions. “An example is our efforts in developing new markets include the decarbonization of shipping with Ammonia Cracking. Our Ammorite 45, 50, and 55 materials – three separate patents – are market-leading solutions for cracking ammonia and converting it into energy that can power ships and other energy intensive applications in the future. We don’t see it as a short-term story; we see a sustained long-term trend, and our approach is to be the technology leader in every key market. Our ambition, and increasingly our reality, is to have the best technical solution, with the lowest carbon footprint, the best overall value proposition, and the best efficiency. Another innovation is our S-MART technology, which opens up a new market for us in ethylene. On the petrochemical side, we have more new patents than all our competitors combined in recent years.”
Paralloy Group is looking to build on the outstanding growth it has already achieved – most notably its TeesAMP facility in Middlesbrough, which initially opened with two units and now has five. “We’re building a new 30,000-square-foot fabrication shop there, plus further turnkey CNC machining capacity,” Robert discloses. “Our ambition is to be the go-to provider across all markets we serve, delivering the best value solutions through reliable on-time delivery, streamlined processes, and the speed and simplicity our customers need. Every site in the UK and France has seen significant investment on this journey. Despite a challenging global outlook in 2026, we’ve continued to make some of our most strategic investments, positioning the Group to capitalize on long-term opportunities.
“Earlier this year we partnered with Framatome on a long-term collaboration in the nuclear and defense supply chains, to secure critical castings for the UK, France, and Europe. We bring best practice and scale to support the critical new nuclear investments that are coming.” With some of the most innovative and valuable manufacturing foundry assets already in Europe, Paralloy Group’s ambitions for the future remain high. “We own 1.3 million square feet of manufacturing space, alongside additional two million square feet of land and facilities with further development potential,” Robert finalizes. “We’re continuing to invest in people, products, processes, and equipment as we strive to be recognized as Number One in each sector we serve; we don’t want to be anything less.”