US financiers sign £40m support package for Sheffield Forgemasters

FINANCIERS at US firm Wells Fargo supported a £40m credit facility for Sheffield Forgemasters, according to the firm, putting them back on “firm financial footing.”

The company said the financing facility is “dynamic in nature” and an extension of the the facility that was capped at £25m in 2015.

Sheffield Forgemasters said it should provide funding through until March 2017.

Forgemasters posted a 2015 turnover of £72.8m compared with the 18 months to December 2014 of £122.4m.

Losses on activities before taxation narrowed in these latest accounts to £7.6m, from £10.6m the year before.

In February, it was announced that BAE Systems, Babcock International and Rolls-Royce Holdings had agreed to underwrite bank loans to the manufacturer in a deal brokered by the Ministry of Defence. The deal was worth £30m .

Sheffield Forgemasters is supplying the Government’s Trident nuclear weapons programme development.

Auditors at KPMG received a £761,000 sum for their work on the accounts, up from £155,000 the year before.