Europe drives Tata Steel performance
Tata Steel, which has operations across the Black Country, has seen an improving European performance help push the business to a £49 million profit for the last three months, raising hopes for a turnaround in the industry.
The company is currently spending £30 million upgrading its UK distribution network - £15m of it at its Steelpark operations in Wednesfield, while the Indian-owned group's European operations produced more liquid steel in the last three months of 2013 than in any quarter of the previous five years.
The third quarter performance reversed the losses made at the same point in 2012 as the group as a whole saw steel deliveries grow to 18.9 million tons for the first nine months as rose to £10.4 billion.
In Europe steel production rose 19% year on year to 3.91 million tons. Turnover was up to £5.9bn for the first nine months, while profits were up to £214 million from just £15m a year ago.
It was boosted by major orders for railway lines in France and the UK - 200,000 tons of rail in France alone.
In the Black Country the company now employs around 700 people - the majority at Wednesfield but also at sites in Brierley Hill and Bescot in Walsall. Sites in Cradley, Kingswinford and Wombourne were closed a year ago as part of the centralisation of services at the Wednesfield Steelpark.
Tata Steel's European managing director, Karl-Ulrich Kohler, said: "The asset base we restored and upgraded last year has been running at stable rates, which has led to the continued year-on-year turnaround in financial performance.
"With European economic indicators improving, these efforts will better enable us to benefit from any growth in European steel demand, which remains at historically low levels."
