Vanderlande Industries UK rakes in £11m profit
Pre-tax profit has almost doubled to £11m at Solihull-based Vanderlande Industries UK. The handling systems manufacturer said the results were "above expectations" thanks to a boost in the number of long-term contracts it secured, but warned that growth may be limited in 2012.
Vanderlande Industries UK, which is a subsidiary of Netherlands-based Vanderlande Industries BV, secured the £11m sum at its 2011 year-end compared with a pre-tax profit of £5.8m in 2010.
The company specialises in the design, supply and installation of material handling systems for manufacturing plants, distribution centres and airports.
Turnover for the year to 31 March 2011 also grew from £55m in the previous year to £75.9m.
Directors at the Hampton-in-Arden company said "progress was made on all significant projects" during the year and described the resulting profit as "excellent".
The directors' report added that the level of orders received by the company remained at a good level, and said a "significant proportion" of these were long-term maintenance contracts. These long term deals lent "good growth opportunities" to the business, added the report.
"Sales and gross profit per employee improved although the general economic climate has limited growth," it stated.
"During the next two years growth may be limited by the economic situation before returning to higher levels as order intake and the economy improves."
Directors added that they expected sales to decline slightly over the coming year.
A dividend of £1.73 per share, totalling £1.8m was paid out at the year end, a drop on its 2010 payout of £2.99m.
Vanderlande Industries UK created 14 new jobs over the year, with the employee count rising from 276 to 290. The majority of these roles were created in the company's production division. Staff costs also grew from £12.49m in 2010 to £14.4m.
The lion's share of turnover was derived from the UK over the 12 months; £75.9m came through domestic sales while £14,000 was brought in from the rest of the UK. This compares with £55m and £24,000 respectively in 2010.
