A pre-close trading update from Castings (CGS) sent shares up by as much as 11 per cent, after the iron castings and machining specialist said efficiency initiatives were beginning to bear fruit.
Castings has said it will need around two years to fix its beleaguered machining business, CNC Speedwell. But the group says management initiatives have already begun to improve things here, particularly in the final quarter of the year, “although it will still take time for these to be fully realised”.
In foundries, margins have improved in the second half owing to better productivity and a reversal in the time lag in passing on raw material price rises. Castings expects to report full-year results ahead of expectations, after strong demand in its second half that included some customer stock building.
