Renold says progress being made after year of change

RENOLD, the Manchester manufacturer of industrial chains, said its turnaround plan is making “excellent progress” as it posted a rise in underlying profits.

The largest project in its drive to take out extra manufacturing capacity, and save more than £3m a year, has been the closure of a site at Bredbury near Stockport, which cost 230 jobs and more than £7m.

Manufacturing work undertaken there has been moved to other Renold sites including China and Germany.

In the year to the end of March Renold saw its revenue fall to £184m from £187m. Its loss before tax fell from £11.9m to £5.9m.
Significantly, underlying adjusted operating profit increased 56% to £11.1m.

Chief executive Robert Purcell said: “The increase in adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share, without the benefit of sales growth, emphasises the value accessible through self-help measures.
 
“We remain focused on creating a continuous improvement culture in all of our locations and activities to deliver intelligent and sustainable reductions in our cost base.

“Towards the end of the new financial year we expect to turn our attention to the second phase of our strategic plan, the organic growth phase.”

Chairman Mark Harper said Renold was making strong progress in its strategic plan, and added: “The successful delivery of the complex capacity reduction project in the chain division is a major milestone in significantly lowering our breakeven point.”

He said market conditions generally remain “subdued”.

Renold did not pay a dividend.