Chamberlin & Hill secures £5.3m new contract

A engineering business has won a new contract that will be worth £5.3 million over the next four years.

Chamberlin's contract to supply turbo charger bearing housings for diesel engines in cars starts in January. They will all be made at the light castings foundry at its Chuckery Road site in Walsall.

It is expected to contribute revenue of £1.27m in the first year.

Kevin Nolan, chief executive of Chamberlin, said: "I am delighted to announce this major contract win for our Walsall foundry.

"It demonstrates the foundry's ability to compete on a truly global footprint in its specialisation – the design of small castings with complex internal passages produced in high volumes."

He said the contract with a leading European automotive industry components and parts supplier would not mean any immediate increase in the size of the workforce at Walsall but would secure work for the existing staff.

The foundry and engineering group employs more than 400 across the Chamberlin & Hill sites in Walsall and Leicester; Russell Ductile Castings, Scunthorpe, and engineering businesses Exidor, Cannock, and Petrel, Birmingham.

Chamberlin will be announcing its half year results for the six months to the end of September on November 25.

The group produces high-quality iron castings of up to 5,000 kilograms for the automotive, construction, power generation, steel and rail industries.

The original foundry was established in Walsall in 1890.

Last year, Chamberlin was hit by a cut back in orders, mainly affecting its Leicester and Scunthorpe sites, and put a cost-cutting programme in place. Revenue was down 8.6 per cent to £38.6 million and the group made a loss before tax of £2.1m compared to £800,000 profit for 2012-2013.

The board said at the time of the release of the results in May that it expected the group to return to profitability in 2015.

There had been significant improvement in Chamberlin's performance in the second half of the year after the new management team acted to stem losses and address the reduction in revenues within the foundry operations.

The group has invested heavily over recent years in new equipment for the Walsall foundry which specialises in turbochargers.

Mr Nolan joined the company last year succeeding Tim Hair, who had seven years with the group. He had worked for US-owned engineering group Wall Collmonoy.