Pre-recession performance levels fire up Chamberlin

IN yet another sign that West Midlands manufacturers are leading the way out of the economic downturn, Walsall-based foundry group Chamberlin has reported that revenues and earnings are now above pre-recession levels.

Announcing its final results for the year to March 31, the firm revealed that revenues increased by 14% to £45.5m (2011: £39.8m) and underlying profit before tax was up 107% to £1.7m (2011: £0.8m). Meanwhile, its net debt has been reduced by 46%, from £2.9m in 2011 to £1.6m now.

Some 70% of Chamberlin’s sales are now for the export markets and the group has also seen a boost in in its engineering activities through the addition of Jebron Ltd’s assets.

Chamberlin acquired fixed assets and inventory from the administrator of Jebron, a door controllers maker, for £162,000 in February and has been producing door controllers itself since March.

Chairman, Keith Butler-Wheelhouse, said: “The board has concentrated in recent years on the modernisation of the group’s businesses and tightened their focus on the technically demanding areas of the markets we serve under the theme “difficult things done well”.

“This approach has delivered a strong foundation on which to build and our strategy for the future will focus on growing both top and bottom line by offering top class technology which is valued by our customers.

“We anticipate that growth will be achieved both organically and by acquisition and we will continue to explore opportunities which would be a logical extension to the group.

“I believe Chamberlin is well placed to achieve further improvement in results and look forward to leading the board and supporting the executive team to deliver sustained profitable growth in the years to come.”

Chamberlin’s RDC arm, meanwhile, is to produce a range of castings for the Crossrail project in London.