Chief executive poached for British Steel

The new British Steel is hiring an executive from Austrian steelmaking business Voestalpine.

48 year-old Peter Bernscher will work with chairman Roland Junck at the company, which acquired a major Scunthorpe steelworks from Tata Steel last year, according to Sky News.

British Steel is reportedly on track to make a profit in the first year of business since the Tata Steel operations were sold to private investment firm and Monarch Airlines owner Greybull Capital. It acquired the plant in April 2016, in a deal which safeguarded more than 4,000 jobs.

Recent deals have been struck to supply steel for the construction of Hinkley Point nuclear power station and rails for the Algerian and Italian train networks which are set to push the company into profit.

As part of the deal, workers were asked to accept a pay cut and less generous pension arrangements.