Castings P.L.C., the Midlands-based iron castings and machining group whose customers include European heavy truck OEMs, reported group revenue of £173.2 million for the year ended 31 March, down 2.1% from £177.0 million a year earlier.
Operating profit more than doubled to £10.0 million from £4.8 million, and profit before tax rose to £10.3 million from £5.6 million, as the business right-sized to lower demand levels and benefited from the absence of £1.5 million in one-off electricity costs that had weighed on the prior year.
Heavy truck customers, which account for over 70% of group revenue, continued at reduced volumes, with OEMs estimating European demand ran about 10% below the normalised trend level throughout the period.
Cash from operating activities surged to £25.1 million from £12.3 million, aided by a planned £9.3 million inventory reduction, lifting the total cash position to £17.4 million at 31 March from £15.6 million a year earlier.
Looking into the current financial year, forward customer schedules point to volume increases of 5% to 10%, including new wind energy work, though the first two months were disrupted by a roughly 50% power restriction at the William Lee site; full power was restored on 24 May after transformer repairs were completed.
