The ‘pausing’ of a Hollywood film studios project in Hertfordshire has hit the sales of a North Yorkshire steel company.

However, Thirsk headquartered Severfield, says it has delivered profits above expectation and has strong orders.

The company, which also has operations near Malton and employs 1900 nationally, lost out on a £50million order when Sunset Studios ‘paused’ their project in Hertfordshire last summer.

In their latest company results, Severfield reports that in the year to March 2024, revenues fell 6% to £463.5million and operating profits fell 12% to £26.4million.

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But underlying operating profit, before joint ventures and associates, increased to £37.7m.

Severfield reported demand from India is booming, helped by JSSL, a partnership it has with India’s JSW Ltd. This has a record order book of £181million in June, compared with £165million in November.

India has potential, the company explained, and this year it bought land in Gujurat to develop a new manufacturing site. It is also hiring sales and other staff in India.

In the UK and Europe, the order book was reported to be £478m, down from £482m in November last year, with most of the work is due to be delivered over the next year.

Recent projects include the Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station,  a new stadium for Everton FC, a battery plant in Sunderland and a BAE plant in Scotland.

The cancellation of the Birmingham-Manchester leg of HS2 had not affected the business, as it continued building new stations on HS2’s southern leg.

The transition to Net Zero also presented opportunities, with Severfield gaining contracts in the Nuclear Power sectors and in the wind turbine sector, such as helping construct a major building for them at Teesworks.

Conditions at home and across the continent were softer, the company continued, particularly across the distribution and infrastructure markets where tendering activity was increasing despite extra pricing competition.

Continental projects included building data centres in Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Alan Dunsmore, Chief Executive Officer said: “We are delighted to be reporting another strong performance by the Group, with our profits ahead of expectations.

"This is the result of an excellent operational performance and the success of our strategy to diversify the sectors and geographies we serve.

"This has enabled us to deliver enhanced returns for shareholders through our recent share buyback scheme, building on our ten consecutive years of progressive dividends."

He added: “Looking ahead, we have strong order books in the UK, Europe and India which are providing us with good earnings visibility through 2025 and beyond.

"With market conditions showing signs of improvement and with our businesses well-placed in markets that are expected to benefit from positive long term growth trends, which are unlikely to be impacted by the result of the upcoming UK general election, we are confident in the outlook for the business.”