Sheffield Forgemasters “confident” in turnaround plans despite losses
A REDUCTION in operating losses is welcome news for Sheffield Forgemasters, despite being hit by slowdowns in the oil and gas and wider global economy, as well as high energy prices.
Management “remains confident” that progress will continue, following the announcement that the company had narrowed operating losses to £4.8m.
This showed a pro rata £3m reduction in losses over the previous 18-month financial period.
Forgemasters posted a 2015 turnover of £72.8m compared with the 18 months to December 2014 of £122.4m. It also posted an overall operating loss of £9.3m (£6.2m annualised).
The accounts, which Sheffield Forgemasters say have been filed at Companies House, will become public in the next few days.
Sheffield Forgemasters’ chairman, Tony Pedder, said: “Although we anticipated the business to run at a loss for the financial year ending 31 December 2015, we are encouraged to see that steps to streamline the business and early implementation of the turnaround plan is having a positive effect.”
Sheffield Forgemasters’ chief executive, Dr Graham Honeyman, said: “We are still fully committed to a return to stronger trading in the future.
“The manufacturing excellence and technological advances of this company are not equalled by any of our competitors and that approach is as relevant to the company’s current challenges as it was at the point when we engineered the management buyout in 2005.
“The next 12 months will require a lot of work but we have already made vast inroads into restructuring the business towards profitability and are anticipating a stronger year end in December 2016.”
In January 2016, Forgemasters announced that it would be making 100 redundancies, following a £13.6m loss.
In February, The Ministry of Defence brokered a deal which saw BAE Systems, Babcock International and Rolls-Royce Holdings back Forgemasters with a £30m support package.
