Stamford Group see profits slip
STAMFORD Group, the North West company which makes storage systems for hospitals, display units for retailers and operates petrol stations, saw profits slide last year amid “really tough trading conditions”.
The Stalybridge, Cheshire, based group, which has operations in the US Germany, Sweden and Ireland, grew sales from £57.9m to £61m in the year to September 2009, but profits fell from £1.7m to £762,000.
Stamford said challenges in Opto International business, which makes display systems for retailers here and in the US, had squeezed the bottom line.
Chairman and chief executive John Nugent, said in a statement accompanying the accounts: “Most unsurprisingly, your company faced really tough trading conditions in all geographical markets during 2009 and this fact is reflected in the trading results.
“We experienced the full extent of the the downturn in sales much later in the year at out US-based company Opto International Incorporated than at our various operations in England, but the impact on profits was considerable.”
Mr Nugent said OII had again been the main generator of profits, and given the economic conditions, it had produced an “extremely creditable result”.
Trading conditions are still tough there, and as further dip in US profits is expected this financial year, he added.
On a more positive note he said customers were starting to show more confidence and the company has more upward momentum.
He said action had been taken to improve what had been a poor trading performance for the companies based in the North West. These include brands such as Micrex, Mailbox, Medstor and Micropol.
Mr Nugent said: “Our Stalybridge-based companies were consolidated into a single entity, Stamford Products and this allowed us to make considerable cost savings while improving the cohesion between specialist functions.
“Certainly, after a relatively really poor performance in 2009, the early months of this new concept have been extremely positive and we are confident that overall results will improve by at least £700,000 due to the action taken.”
