Castings interim profits rise, chairman to step down

Iron casting and machining firm Castings posted a rise in interim profits and revenue on Wednesday amid strong demand, as it announced that chairman Brian Cooke plans to step down.

In the six months to 30 September, pre-tax profit rose to £7.5m from £5.4m in the same period a year earlier, on revenues of £85.6m, up from £69.7m.

Casting hailed strong underlying demand for heavy trucks and said the conversion of forward schedules to actual sales has improved versus a year ago.

"Two of our largest commercial vehicle customers have introduced new engine platforms during the period on which the group has an increased share of parts," it noted. "The simultaneous introduction has led to production challenges in the transition phase which are now largely behind us."

In the foundry operations, output rose 3.3% to 25,100 tonnes and external sales revenue was up 24.3% at £84.7m. In the machining operation segment, CNC Speedwell generated external revenue of £0.9m, down 42.7%, and a reported loss of £0.47m versus a profit of £0.05m.

"The long-term demand schedules continue to reflect the high build rates that the heavy truck OEMs require to satisfy their order books," Castings said. "The group will see the benefit of the greater content won on the new customer platforms as these are now in production. Production efficiencies will also improve as the focus will be on the new parts that have been introduced."

The company also announced on Wednesday that Brian Cooke will step down as chairman on 1 January 2023. He will be succeeded by senior independent director Alec Jones. Andrew Eastgate, who joined the board on 1 September 2018, will be appointed as senior independent director.