Motherwell Bridge Results Point To Continued Success
Motherwell Bridge Ltd, the Lanarkshire-based engineering contractor, has reported an excellent set of results for the year to June 2008.
Making the announcement, company chairman Hugh Hayes said that the sale of MB Inspection Ltd in January 2008 to an overseas-based trade buyer had provided a significant profit for the group. As a result of the sale, the group now consists of its two engineering subsidiaries, MB Engineering Services Ltd (including MB Plastics) which operates principally in the UK, and Motherwell Bridge International Ltd, which is operating in selected overseas markets.
Mr Hayes said: "Profit before tax for the year, including the trading contribution from MB Inspection up to 25 January 2008, and the profit from the sale of the business, amounted to £13.66 million. The strong performance of our two subsidiaries during 2007/08 was also a major contributing factor to this figure.
“By the end of the year Motherwell Bridge was free of net debt, had cash on deposit and our underlying earnings from continuing operations [before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation of goodwill] were in the region of £6 million, all of which has helped us achieve an extremely healthy trading result. In addition, all of the long term incentives for our senior management team were settled during the year, and these have been fully charged in the accounts.
Mr Hayes added: "In June we announced the sale of Motherwell Bridge to Elydale Ltd, a company which was set up by a number of senior managers, including myself, and Kuwait Finance House (Bahrain), to acquire the group.
"The purchase was driven by the strong prospects both within the UK and overseas, and we saw advantages in having a Middle Eastern-based majority shareholder. We have started the new financial year with strong order books through into 2009 and later in some divisions, and continue to receive a high level of enquiries."
"Overall we expect the current year to be very successful, and our position as a specialist engineering contractor remains extremely satisfactory."