Stablisation seen at Chamberlin after tough half year

Foundry and engineering firm Chamberlin dived into the red at the interim stage but is confident of a better second half.Loss before tax and exceptional items for the six months to end-September was £0.48m, versus a profit of £1.21m (restated) a year earlier.With exceptional items included the loss was £0.71m, versus a profit of £1.02m. The one off items related to £0.24m of restructuring costs this year, as the company adjusted to the realities of the economic downturn.Revenue slumped 40% to £14.2m from £23.5m a year earlier as customers ran down inventories. On the bright side, the company believes ‘demand has largely stabilised in most areas of the business and some sectors appear to be showing signs of recovery.’Performance across the group has been varied, with the engineering companies (15% of the group'’ business) seeing only a modest decline over the last 12 months, while demand in the passenger car sector, which ordinarily accounts for 13% of group sales, fell off a cliff in the second half of last year.Demand for mid-range castings also tailed off in the first half of this year as construction and commercial vehicle volumes declined. ‘At present, our shipments to the car industry are stable at around 70% of peak volume and are profitable at that level,’ the company said.Net borrowings at the end of September edged up to £3.5m from £3.3m at the end of March, chiefly due to restructuring costs.‘We are confident of delivering improved results in the second half of the current financial year although, given the operationally geared nature of the business, the volume of orders actually achieved will greatly influence the exact outcome,’ chairman Tom Brown said.