Livingston metal firm pouring €10m into new plant and HQ in France

A Livingston metal specialist whose clients include Rolls-Royce is investing €10 million (£9m) to establish both Europe’s first dedicated aerospace-grade titanium processing facility and its European HQ – in France.

CEO Ruaraidh Williamson co-founded the business. Picture: Nick Callaghan Photography.

IMET Alloys, which specialises in processing and supply-chain management of titanium and superalloy materials, will build and equip the plant at Saint Georges-De Mons, near Clermont-Ferrand. It will have 50 staff and is expected to be operational by 2022.

The firm said it is a major player in its field and uses “the most technologically advanced techniques in the world” to provide furnace-ready products to melt ingots that are used in the aerospace, oil and gas, power-generation and medical sectors.

Other clients include US conglomerate General Electric and French multinational aircraft engine, rocket engine, aerospace-component and defence company Safran.

The plant will convert titanium generated by aircraft manufacturers and their subcontractors into clean, furnace-ready material. IMET channels this directly back into the world’s titanium-melting facilities displacing primary ore and “helping create a circular economy within Europe’s aerospace manufacturing supply chain”.

Chief executive Ruaraidh Williamson said: “We will be employing exclusive technologies developed by IMET to cement our position as the processor and supplier of next-generation alloys utilised in the latest energy-efficient engines.”

The firm was founded in 2012, backed by Scottish entrepreneur Hugh Stewart’s private equity house Coralinn LLP. It is also present in the US and the Czech Republic, has an expected turnover this year of $60 million (£48.5m) and is eyeing further expansion.