Proof of their metal

British Steel give 5% of firm to workers

BRITISH Steel have handed five per cent of the firm to workers after bouncing back into the black.

The perk could mean the company’s 4800-strong workforce is quids in if they ever pay a dividend or are sold off.

The firm have already returned staff to full pay after they agreed to a three per cent cut to help shore up the company’s finances.

It came as British Steel – bought for £1 by private equity owners Greybull Capital a year ago – announced a £126million turn-around.

The company, who revived the British Steel name at the time of the takeover, made £47million profit in the 12 months to March 31.

That’s compared with a £79million loss in the final year they were owned by industry giant Tata Steel. The profit – the best for a decade – was boosted by hiving off lossmaking parts of the business, increasing their share of the UK construction market and growing exports.

Raw material costs soared 44 per cent However, they recouped all but £15million of that from charging higher prices.

Executive chairman Roland Junck, speaking at the firm’s main Scunthorpe plant, said: “This is a business that people thought would die, would disappear. We have demonstrated that is not true.”

The company make everything from the track for the London’s Crossrail project to the steel used in wire wool, tyres and paper clips.

They have hired 500 new staff and were swamped with applications for apprenticeships.

But the 3000 workers at the vast Scunthorpe site is a fraction of the 25,000 in its 1960s heyday.

Paul Martin, the firm’s managing director, called for a “level playing field” on energy costs, rates and government steel-buying plans to boost their long-term future.

Junck also warned about the “uncertainty” caused by Brexit amid fears that tariffs could be slapped on exports to the EU.