Slide in Aga orders
Friday 13th March 2009, 11:44AM GMT.
The Shropshire maker of the Aga cooker today said orders were down by about 20 per cent in the face of deteriorating trading conditions.
Aga Rangemaster, which is based in Ketley, Telford, and has a manufacturing site in Coalbrookdale, also reported a 47 per cent decline in 2008 profits to £14.4 million and said revenues for the year dropped 4.2 per cent to £279.4 million.
Chief executive William McGrath said the 300-year-old business was well positioned to deal with the difficult times.
He added: “The current markets are the least encouraging for many years but we are ready to take on these challenges and expect to become stronger with improved market shares.”
Aga has reduced its headcount from 3,169 to under 2,700 in the past year and has also reached agreements with the workforce and unions on the introduction on shorter hours.
Meanwhile pub giant JD Wetherspoon today said that the tax burden now faced by the pubs industry had “gone too far” despite posting pre-tax profits to £30.8 million in the six months to January 25.
The chain announced a two per cent rise in first-half profits with like-for-like sales up 1.9 per cent.
It has cut its interim dividend to repay debt falling due in September and has agreed a £20 million banking facility with Abbey owner Santander.
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