Mount focuses on costs
1 min read
Half year results today (28 September) from Mount Engineering – whose primary business serves the oil and gas related fabrication markets – typified the experience and outlook of the SME manufacturing sector suggesting it needed to remain focused on controlling inventory and costs in light of little evidence of its customers increasing their capital projects.
Mount Engineering has three operating subsidiaries. West Midlands based Redapt and Raxton manufacture thread conversion components, typically for the oil & gas, petrochemical and chemical industries while Hi Flow, based in Suffolk, provides a range of industrial valves and actuators to the same sector.
Chairman Colin Ainger said sales at Redapt and Raxton saw a noticeable decline over the comparative period last year, primarily due to extensive de-stocking on the part of electrical wholesalers and distributors. Hi Flow, however, saw a small increase in sales over the same period last year, although forward order visibility throughout the business continued to be very limited.
"Whilst there is little evidence to suggest that the group's primary oil and gas related fabrication markets are seeing an increase in capital projects, we remain focused on controlling inventory and costs," he concluded.
In the six months to 30 June, turnover was down 14% from £5.8 million to £5 million while pre-tax profit fell marginally from £1.5 million to £1.4 million.
