Restructuring stems losses at Eleco

Eleco spent £316,000 restructuring its precast concrete business in the first half of 2012, which turned a pre-exceptional operating profit of £48,000 translated into a pre-tax loss of £480,000. This was better than the 2011 first-half loss of £660,000 (restated). Revenue for the six months to 30 June 2012 was £18.4m (2011 H1: £18.3m restated).

Revenue from the building systems businesses in the UK, ElecoBuild, was £10.1m (2011 H1: £10.3m). A reduction in turnover from precast concrete student accommodation and hotel projects was partly offset by higher turnover in standard precast concrete products and metal roofing and cladding products.

A small reduction in turnover of the software businesses, ElecoSoft, to £8.2m (2011 H1: £8.5m), was attributed partly to the weakening of the Euro against Sterling but also to lower than anticipated turnover in the UK.

Restructuring the loss making precast concrete businesses saw ‘significant redundancies’ across both management and production employees at Bell & Webster Concrete and Milbury Systems. The process also involved the formation of ElecoPrecast, headed by managing director John Stothard and finance director Carol Lound.

“Initial indications suggest that the restructuring exercise is delivering the benefits we anticipated,” said executive chairman John Ketteley.

He added: “The past three years have been about steering Eleco through financial and trading conditions, the severity of which have been unprecedented. These conditions have abated to a degree, but continue to be challenging. Against this background, our management have had to take some very difficult decisions and actions in their efforts to return Eleco to profitability and they remain committed to achieving this objective, for the benefit of shareholders and employees alike.

“I continue to believe that further to our restructuring, Eleco is well placed to take advantage of improvements in the markets it serves and I look forward to our capturing the benefits of these changes over the coming months.”

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