The chairman of a North East defence specialist has revealed hopes to create new manufacturing jobs in the North East, after acquiring a factory from a firm which collapsed last year.
The sixth generation, family-owned William Cook group produces components for the rail, defence and energy sectors and its site in Stanhope, County Durham, is the focal point of its defence operations. The site is home to Cook Defence Systems, William Cook Stanhope and William Cook Intermodal, making tracks for military vehicles.
Now the group’s chairman Sir Andrew Cook has said he hopes to create more jobs in the sector in the region, after taking on a factory which was operated by Bondshold Ltd, which fell into administration before Christmas.
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The building was one of several put up for sale by administrators.
Sir Andrew said the group is currently mulling options for the foundry building at Crook, County Durham, but hopes to create employment opportunities.
He said: “We now have one-and-a-half sites in the North East and have been contemplating various uses for the Crook site. Whilst Covid has been going on we have concentrated on preparing the site for a number of eventualities.
“It could be used as it was by Bonds, or more lightly, as we look to develop the defence business downstream.
“At Stanhope we manufacture the running gear for armoured vehicles but we could expand into further elements of armoured vehicles. I can’t be too clear at the moment but sub-assemblies is very much on the radar for the Crook foundry.
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“It’s very good to have that factory available because we don’t have spare space and the sort of activity we have in mind requires being in a self-contained site.
“We’ve got a good team at Stanhope and it’s secure, so we are in a good position to start employing people. We could be looking at increasing manufacturing jobs, which is what I’ve always wanted to do and what I will continue to do.
“We are getting that factory cleaned up first and perhaps by autumn will see where we go.”
The news comes as the group revealed financial results for the year ended June 29 2019, with Sir Andrew commending the work of staff at Stanhope, having weathered tough times in recent years.
Cook Defence Systems, which in April won a £15m contract from the Ministry of Defence to supply tank tracks, saw turnover rise 37% from £18.2m to £25m, while operating profit also rose from £2.9m to £3.3m. William Cook Stanhope saw turnover increase 36% from £14.6m to £19.8m, and the operating loss narrowed from £914,605 to £755,983.
Meanwhile at William Cook Intermodal, sales slightly dipped from £892,465 to £827,036. Operating profit also dropped from £168,329 to £125,390.
Sir Andrew said that, despite setbacks in other economic areas, the global defence sector remains robust, and that investment is being made to develop new products and will continue.
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More than £5m has been invested in Stanhope over the last two years and around £30m since 2010 across all three of its sites, in the North East and Yorkshire, where it has facilities in Leeds and Sheffield.
Sir Andrew said: “We’ve not compromised on investment programmes which were first put in place in 2010, and we have not compromised on the challenges we’ve had in management as people retire.
“But we’ve more or less come out the other side now. The waters are still pretty choppy though.
“We’ve managed to keep Stanhope going at full production during the Covid-19 lockdown, while compromising on working hours and so on, and only furloughed 20 to 25 people for a short while out of 180, so it wasn’t an awful hit to the employment situation and we’ve had good cooperation from the workforce.
“It’s been very difficult for several years. It’s just like life really, you have bad times when things don’t go right, but under those circumstances if your strategy is basically right and you believe in it, you have to keep on course.”