In a pre-close trading update, Tanfield said that trading for the first half was in line with the expectations, with turnover increasing 24% to £24.4m, compared to £19.6m in the same period in 2010. Net cash remained relatively stable at £4.7m (31 December 2010: £3.6 million). The order book continues to improve, with orders now standing at £20.9m, compared to £7.7m at the start of the year.
However supply chain capacity constraints, allied to the requisite working capital demands, are limiting the speed of growth, the company said – “the entire global supply chain takes time to re-balance and re-build lost capacity to cope with the returning demand”. This situation is expected to continue throughout 2011.
CEO Darren Kell said: "We continue to work closely with all of our suppliers to remove bottlenecks, so we can further increase production, meet the recovering market demand globally in our products, and reduce our lead times. We expect the wider market will continue to improve in the second half of 2011, as the company moves closer towards break-even. "
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