Surface Transforms is looking at sales of £23m this year despite ongoing challenges relating to “high levels of scrap.”
The Knowlsey-based specialist brakes manufacturer, whose products have been used by the likes of Aston Martin and Lamborghini, said there had been significant improvements in underlying operational performance under chief operations officer Stephen Easton, following a string of challenges.
But sales in the first quarter still came in lower than the company’s internal target, at £3m, although they have risen consistently risen throughout the last year.
“The prime remaining operational challenge relates to continuing high levels of scrap from processes that are not yet fully capable,” Surface Transforms said in a statement.
“Again we regard these issues as a learning curve and note, that considerable success has been achieved in recent weeks in reducing scrap. We expect to continue these improvements over the coming months unlocking further capacity.”
The company has agreed revised 2024 delivery schedules with all customers that progressively pull back arrears. It insisted today the customer situation was “stable.”
Kevin Johnson, chief executive officer, said: “Our priority in Q1 was a combination of fixing the underlying fundamentals and continuing to improve customer relationships. Our customers have been kept fully informed of progress and remain committed.
“The team has also made significant progress on the key challenges of building capacity and reducing scrap which is critical to continuing our ramp up and driving revenue growth during 2024 and 2025.
“Our commitment to building up production capacity, this year and beyond remains absolute.”
The company also revealed its Chairman David Bundred will retire after over a decade on the Board, with “further updates provided in due course”