Steel firm on track with robust order book
Structural steel firm Severfield said this morning that overall trading performance continues to be in line with its upwardly revised expectations, boosted by strong order books in the UK and India.
In a trading update for the year to the end of March, the Thirsk-based group said its financial position remains strong and year-end net funds were around £33m.
The company said: “The UK order book of £242m as at 1 April remains solid and continues to include work across a wide range of market sectors and project sizes. The order book remains in line with our normal order book levels, which typically equate to eight to ten months of annualised revenue. Our pipeline of potential future orders has remained stable with a good balance of work across all key market sectors.”
It said both order book and UK pipeline performance are consistent with its continued progress towards its strategic targets, including the 2020 strategic profit target of £26m.
Meanwhile, it said the Indian business has continued to perform well in the second half of the year.
“This reflects good operational performance coupled with lower financing costs following the repayment of the joint venture’s term debt in June 2017. The Indian order book of £65m at 1 April remains strong and contains an appropriate mix of commercial work and lower margin industrial work. We remain confident in the long term development of the business and believe it continues to have a solid foundation from which to deliver future profitable growth,” Severfield said.
The group will announce its financial results for the year ended March 31 on June 20.
