14th Feb 2014 09:07
LONDON (Alliance News) - Structural steel group Severfield-Rowen PLC said Friday trading for the financial year continues to be in line with expectations despite a difficult period for its Indian arm JSW Severfield Structures Ltd.
In an interim management statement for the period to date, the firm said Indian market conditions continue to be difficult and are not expected to improve until at least after the general elections in May.
Severfield-Rowen said that in the meantime its focus will be on strengthening the commercial focus of the Indian business and managing costs tightly.
"The [Indian] order book level of GBP32 million remains stable, but as highlighted previously, needs to be significantly higher to maintain break-even production levels in the factory," it added.
On a more positive note, Severfield-Rowen said its UK business performed well off the back of an improved market and the completion of a restructuring in the last calendar year.
The UK order book of GBP172 million remains stable and at a level with which management is comfortable, the company said.
"The operational improvement programme continues to make good progress, supporting management expectations that margins will continue to recover over the next two years even without any upturn in the UK market," Severfield-Rowen said.
Looking ahead, the company said it is ideally positioned for recovery in the UK construction market, with its "improving operations, good market share and strong balance sheet."
The stock was trading flat at 61.75 pence Friday morning.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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