Engineering group blames political ‘commotion’ on profit drop

The chairman of engineering group Goodwin has blamed political “commotion” for the company’s drop in half year profits.

The Stoke-on-Trent group saw profits drop 5.4% from £7.8m to £7.4m in the half year to the end of September.

Chairman John Goodwin said: “This deterioration was despite the turnover for the period being marginally in front with a 3.8% increase. This is a feature of the disruption caused by the commotions in our parliamentary system over the past six months where the uncertainty has temporarily stalled projects.

“With further clarity over Brexit, we will be looking to start capitalising from the tremendous success our group companies have had in winning large amounts of business from new market areas.

“We have every reason to believe that the new financial year will allow our group companies to start increasing profits.   We also expect to have further successes in winning significant new business due to the dedication and hard work of all who work within them.”

Goodwin reported an increase in sales revenue of £70.1m for the half year representing a 3.8 % increase from the £67.5m achieved during the same period last year.