Pre-tax loss at Metalrax for half year

BIRMINGHAM-based steel products manufacturer Metalrax has made a pre-tax loss of £0.5m in the first half of the year, it reports today.

The figures for the 26 weeks ended July 4, 2010, compare favourably with the same period last year when it made a loss of £2.6m.

Operating profits, before exceptional items, share option costs and goodwill impairment, made a £1.2m swing from £0.6m loss to £0.6m in profits for the same period.

Revenues in continuing operations were reduced by 2.3% compared to 2009 but its order books are up 8% over June 2009 and up 22% since the start of 2010.

Gross margin in the continuing operations increased by 4% to 26.3% compared with last year.

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This, combined with a £1.7m reduction in overheads, contributed to an improvement in return on sales to 1.7%, compared to a loss on sales of 7.3% in 2009, Metalrax said.

Net debt at the half year was £12.7m compared to £15m 12 months ago, and a slight increase from £12.2m at the end of 2009.

The £0.5m increase in net debt at the half year reflected an investment in working capital of £0.9m, it said.

Chairman Andrew Walker said: “The board expects to exceed market expectations for the current year although the level to which year-end results could be exceeded will be tempered by the impacts of any economic slow-down or ‘double dip’, government spending cuts and reductions in USA spend on hospitals related to healthcare reforms.”