Severfield will reduce its staff pool by 6 per cent to \u201cmitigate the effects of the trading pressures\u201d it is facing.<\/p>\n
The contractor \u2013 ranked 42nd<\/sup> in the latest edition of the CN100<\/a> and\u00a0CN<\/em>‘s top structural steel specialist<\/a> \u2013 carried out a headcount review last year. It now expects to cut more than one in 20 of its staff, \u201cthrough a combination of redundancies and the non-recruitment of approved vacancies\u201d.<\/p>\n In a trading update for the year to 29 March, published this morning (24 April), the firm said it has \u201can even stronger than normal focus on cash generation and conservation\u201d looking forward.<\/p>\n \u201cThis includes careful working capital management, the acceleration of certain [unspecified] tax refunds from HMRC, a reduction in planned capital expenditure, taking into account the significant investment in the asset base over recent years, and other ongoing cost reduction actions,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n However, Severfield does expect to achieve an underlying pre-tax profit tax of between \u00a318m and \u00a320m in the year to 29 March, which would be within its March estimates<\/a>.<\/p>\n The firm issued a profit warning in March, following delays to an unnamed \u201clarge project\u201d and hits to client confidence.<\/p>\n The \u00a318m-\u00a320m projection was a reduction on its previous prediction. Less than a month later, Severfield chief executive Alan Dunsmore announced that he would step down at the end<\/a> of June.<\/p>\n Net debt was \u00a344m, which is better than Severfield predicted last month.<\/p>\n