Redhall pushes forward to grow its business after tough year
THE long running Vivergo dispute saw Redhall’s losses more than double to £9.8m last year but the group said today the settlement meant it could now focus on growing its business.
Wakefield-based Redhall, the specialist engineering support services group, announced last week that it has accepted an offer of £2.1m as a final settlement of its contract dispute with Vivergo Fuels, which centres on the decision to terminate Redhall’s work at a new biofuels plant at Saltend near Hull in 2011.
In its preliminary results for the year to the end of September 2013, Redhall reported revenue at £113.1m, 5.4% down on the prior year but operating profit before exceptional items at £2.1m, up 12.7%. The group’s order book stands at £111m (2012: £119m).
David Jackson, chairman of Redhall, said: “The Vivergo settlement is highly significant for Redhall. It draws a line under the long-running legal case removing uncertainty and further cost. The group has addressed the other legacy contracts that have affected the trading performance in the last three years. We have strengthened the commercial and operational management in our group and have the cost base better aligned to market opportunities. The management team can now focus on growing the business, which continues to offer high quality products and services to attractive markets.”
The group also announced today that it has sold its Belfast-based subsidiary Chieftain Insulation (Northern Ireland) (CINIL) to Precision Industrial Services, a provider of property, utility and environmental solutions. CINIL is based in Northern Ireland and provides industrial insulation, maintenance and asbestos management and survey services to the Belfast government authorities and the construction, marine, offshore and power industries and was deemed “non-core” to future strategy of the group. Redhall said further non-core sales are possible but not certain.
The group announced that it intends to consolidate its four Booth Industries factories in Bolton during 2014. It said the development of new manufacturing facilities at Bolton will represent “the dawn of a new era for the manufacturing division”. It said this investment will help its specialist door manufacturing business capitalise on the opportunities particularly in Defence and the Oil and Gas sectors over the short to medium term and provide substantial organic growth to the group.
Richard Shuttleworth, chief executive, added: “2013 was a year of restructuring the business and realigning the cost base to reflect the activity levels in our core markets and provide a base for profitable growth. Whilst the downturn was greater than envisaged, the measures taken will provide us with the correct base for our growth plan.”
