Severfield-Rowen upbeat despite profits plunge

For the six months ended June 30, the underlying pre-tax profit was down 59 per cent to £3.4m, compared with £8.2m last year.

Revenue fell almost four per cent to £122m. Severfield’s order book stood at £249m, compared with £244m a year ago.

Chief executive Tom Haughey said: “Although profits and margins have dipped, measured against the rest of the industry they are still very strong and positive so we are quite content with the current financials, given the current economic climate.”

British construction output rose by 0.5 per cent in the second quarter and year-on-year construction output fell by 1.6 per cent.

Severfield, which is based in Thirsk and employs 13,000 staff including 500 in Yorkshire, said India remains the focus of its growth ambitions.

The prospects for its joint venture with India’s third-largest steel-maker, JSW Steel, were “immense” it said.

Mr Haughey said the company faced a number of challenges entering the Indian market but it had “made a good job of it” and was working in sectors including, industrial, power, airports, and commercial offices.

“One of the biggest challenges is that India is primarily a concrete-building market so we have to persuade them to adopt steel as the material,” he said. “Then there are challenges of engineering, different working practices, different health and safety practices, different building methods and logistics.”

The company, which is supplying steel for the Olympic Stadium in London, Leeds Arena, and Trinity Leeds shopping centre as well as schools, cut its interim dividend by 70 per cent to 1.5 pence a share.

Meanwhile, non-executive chairman Toby Hayward is stepping down. He will remain a non-executive director and chair the company’s audit committee. He will be replaced by non-executive director John Dodds.