The decision to target smaller project work will see Severfield reorganise its two Yorkshire factories to set up a dedicated one-stop-shop for fabricators at its Sherburn plant, near Scarborough.
Fabrication work at Sherburn for mainly warehouses and low-rise structures will be consolidated into the main Dalton facility.
Alan Dunsmore, acting chief executive, said that the new business venture, Severfield Products and Processing, allowed the group to make better use of its operational footprint in Yorkshire and address smaller scale projects, a segment of the market which historically it has tended to ignore.
“We believe that this proposed reorganisation will enhance our position as the UK’s most efficient structural steel fabricator, continuing to provide our clients with a high quality product and service in the most cost effective manner.
“The proposed reorganisation will result in the transition of a number of job roles across the two facilities. All affected employees have been offered a role within the group.”
Severfield is aiming to sell around 20,000t a year of processed steel.
Dunsmore unveiled the plan to supply smaller projects as Severfield unveiled bumper half-years results, which saw operating margins climb from 7% to 9.3%.
Four major London projects each worth over £20m at Tottenham Hotspur F.C, Wimbledon No. 1 Court, the 22 Bishopsgate tower and Goldmann Sachs HQ helped to drive a 16% uplift in sales to £137m in the six months to September.
This achieved a near 60% rise in underlying profit to £13m, as Severfield benefitted from factory investments to drive efficiencies and benefitted from better risk and contract management processes.
Dunsmore added: “With a high quality order book of £245m and a strong UK pipeline of opportunities, the outlook for the group remains very good.
“The UK market continues to appear stable and the pipeline for potential future orders remains good .
“We have identified a number of significant new potential projects in the coming months across the commercial office, retail, industrial and distribution, and infrastructure sectors.”
He added: “The underlying strength of the business and its performance in the first half of the financial year remains consistent with our continued progress towards delivering our 2020 strategic profit target of £26m.”
