A Sunderland crane manufacturer has seen its turnover soar by €6.6m (£6m) last year despite workers at the factory going on strike during pay negotiations.
Liebherr Sunderland Works (LSW) manufactures a range of cranes that can be installed offshore and on ships as well as port equipment.
Turnover at the company jumped 15% to €50m (£45.8m) for the year ending December 31 2018, up from €43.4m (£39.7m) during the previous year. Operating profit also improved to €3.3m (£3m) up from €2.8m (£2.6m) in 2017.
LSW is owned by Austrian firm Liebherr-MCCtec GmbH and forms part of its maritime division. The Sunderland factory currently makes five of the group’s crane products, which are its shop and dock side model, its offshore crane, harbour mobile, reach stacker, and straddle carriers.
The Liebherr Group operates two other sites in Europe which all contain the same equipment so that production can be moved if needed. However, the Sunderland site is expecting to grow again in 2019 after winning a number of orders,
Speaking in the firm’s accounts, company secretary Jill Simmons said: “The latest reach stacker model is exclusively manufactured in LSW. The current production programme has 58 units planned in 2019 and estimates a significant growth in units produced in the coming five years.”
The increase in turnover was made during a year in which a number of workers went on strike after saying they had received an “inadequate” pay offer.
The company offered workers a 3% pay rise, a £150 lump sum payment and an additional day’s holiday on Christmas Eve, but union members rejected the offer and voted to strike. Following the strikes union members eventually accepted a 3.3% pay rise, with one additional day’s holiday for one year only.
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Liebherr, which employs 206 people at its Sunderland site, saw its staffing costs increase from €7.7m to €8.4m during the year. Meanwhile payments to directors fell from €291,000 to €163,000, with the highest paid director receiving around €90,000.
Ms Simmons also warned that the downturn in the oil market continued to create a challenging environment for the firm to operate in, but added that the factory had diversified its products to combat this.
She said: “To tackle the continuous uncertainties of the present economic climate the maritime division has further strengthened its already existing direct sales strategy.
“The continuing low oil price is affecting the sales outlook in this specific market segment and impacted the production programme for 2018. Due to the diversification of the maritime division and the demand for other products in the maritime portfolio of Liebherr the impact is softened.
“To counter the downturn in the offshore market LSW production capacities are allocated to other products within the maritime division, mainly port equipment with reach stackers and harbour mobile cranes.”