Bosses at Walsall-based foundry group Chamberlin today hailed a £1.8 million turnaround as it returned to full-year profit.

The success at the group has seen it hiring back workers who lost their jobs in the recession, while sales figures in the last year have risen 40 per cent to £39.8m.

Chairman Tom Brown said it “marked a turning point”.

Last year Chamberlain made a £1m loss but today unveiled full-year profits of £895,000. Mr Brown, having seen the company through the recession and into recovery, also announced today he will be stepping down.

Workloads at Chamberlin’s foundries have returned to pre-recession levels or are on their way back.

At the Chuckery Road site, in Walsall, work is under way on a new turbo-charger contract that will be worth around £5m a year once full-scale production starts.

During the depths of the recession the company’s Walsall foundry was reduced to a three-day week to try to cut back on redundancies.

Despite this, from a peak of 484, the Chamberlin workforce shrank to 369, but it started recruiting again in mid-2010 and workforce numbers have increased past the 400 mark.

The recovery at Chamberlin has also seen it buy up the assets of collapsed Darlaston engineering group Jebron, and hire 20 of the firm’s staff who had lost their jobs when it went into administration. The business has become part of Chamberlin’s Exidor operation in Cannock.

Chief executive Tim Hair said second half profits had increased 300 per cent as the recovery in demand gathered pace during the year.

He added: “Chamberlin has been tested by recession and emerged strongly.

“The group is continuing to see volume recovery and we believe that prospects for growth in the current financial year are very encouraging.”