The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Turbine components firm tracking to profit
Chief executive says firm fighting back from major downturn
A Dundee turbine components firm has made a “significant recovery” after almost being brought to its knees by reductions in a major contract.
Last month, The Courier revealed that Aerospace Tooling Limited of Baldovie Industrial Estate had sustained a £1.2 million pre-tax loss in the year to June 30.
The firm’s accounts also showed a more than halving of revenues in the period, with a £3.78m return.
The main reason for the downturn, which saw the company make a number of redundancies and move to shorter working weeks – was a major reduction in orders arising from the RAF’s Tornado jet decommissioning programme.
Chief executive Kerr Picken said the company had been through a challenging period but there were positive signs it was making progress.
“Although ATL has been through tough times following the significant downturn in business resulting from the planned decommissioning of the Royal Air Force Tornado Fighter Jets, the company has made a significant recovery and now looks forward to an increasingly bright future,” he said.
“The management team at ATL have certainly risen to the challenge of turning the business around and have made excellent progress on a number of fronts.”
Mr Picken said the company had re-focussed its operations and its three core business sectors – defence aerospace, civil aerospace and industrial turbines – were on track to increase year-on-year turnover by around 35.
Key new business wins include new defence related work for Rolls-Royce, RB 211 component repair for Iberia Airlines (Spain) as well as a number of new Industrial Turbine customers from Europe and North America.
The firm is also working to develop a pipeline of potential new customers which is expected to deliver significant new business in the months ahead.
Mr Picken said he was now confident the firm will return to the black in the current financial year.
“The commitment and flexibility from our workforce has been truly exceptional,” he said.
“Our period of four-day working was really tough for some of our folks, so it is particularly pleasing to have now returned to full-time working.
“Order intake has grown to the extent that we have recently taken on additional skilled technicians.
“We can’t become complacent about our recent successes, but we have good reason to be confident that we will continue to develop and grow our business and we look forward to a bright future.”
Scottish Enterprise has worked with ATL over the last year on its growth strategy, providing ongoing support to the management team.