Closure costs dent Thos Storey profits

CLOSING its factory in the Midlands dented profits at Thos Storey, the North West engineering company, accounts for 2011 reveal.

The east Manchester-based company, which which makes steel components such as vehicle chassis for dumper truck, digger and bus makers,  said the closure of the factory in Rugby had helped safeguard jobs in this region.

Chief executive Fred Ellis told TheBusinessDesk.com: “Unfortunately during the year the factory at Rugbu became a late casualty of the worldwide recession of 2008/9.

“With some key pieces of plant and machinery reaching the end of their economic life and with still spare capacity on the same types of equipment at Openshaw – the decision was made not to replace this and to transfer the more profitable work into the Openshaw plant along with their newer equipment.”

One-off costs relating to the closure – which caused 27 redundancies – amounted to £281,000.

Turnover on continuing operations in 2011 rose from £13.8m to £14.5m, while operating profits before restructuring were up from £578,000 to £603,000. Bottom line profits were £115,904, compared with £406,180 the previous year.

Mr Ellis was cautious on prospects for this year, stating: “It’ll be a case of steady as she goes for this year. We’re a long way from demand levels of 2007  – where sales peaked at £28m and then nose-dived to £8.9m.”

Thos Storey, which is a supplier to the major industrial vehicle manufacturers including JCB, Terex and Caterpillar, now has around 150 staff at its Openshaw site.

“We’re still running at 60% of total capacity here, compared with three years ago, and we’ve kept up to speed with cap-ex, so we’d be able to cope with higher demand if that comes through to us.”