A LEEDS manufacturer has restructured its UK operations after a year of heavy losses.
ATB Morley recorded a pre-tax loss of £3.97m as revenues fell 48% to £11.1m last year. Two years earlier it had made profits of £2.79m on sales of £29.6m.
It closed its Stockport site, generated exceptional costs of £900,000, as its headcount was reduced by 40 to around 180 people.
ATB Morley is a motor manufacturer which operates in niche markets around the world. It makes electric motors for use in harsh environments including mines, as well as wind turbine generators and sub-sea generators.
It believes it is “nearing the bottom of this market depression”
Director Tao Li said: “There are differing views on when the mining equipment market will recover. The company believes the market recovery will be a slow progress with a turnaround not expected until at least the fourth quarter of 2015.”
ATB Morley has recently been combined with its sister companies ATB Laurence Scott in Norwich and ATB Special Products in the West Midlands to form ATB Group UK.
The companies will retain their own brands but the management team will be combined as the group aims to “unlock operational benefits” as a result of the merger.
Around three-quarters of ATB Morley’s revenues come from the mining sector, although it continues to try “to strike a better balance between mining and other non-mining products”. It is exploring opportunities linked to the manufacture of low density polyethylene as well as sub-sea power generation.
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