The 海角视频 arm of caravan and motorhome manufacturer Erwin Hymer says component supply difficulties have impacted on its trading.
New accounts for the County Durham-based firm show it swung to an operating loss of £4.55m in the year to the end of July 2022, from an operating profit of £2.4m the year previously. Lingering impacts of Covid on supply chains, including disruption to the number of motorhome and campervan chassis available, were said to have limited sales in an otherwise buoyant market.
Turnover fell over the period to £95.2m from £101.8m the year before, with the majority generated in the 海角视频 and smaller sums of £825,470 and £434,604 coming from Europe and the rest of the world respectively. The Consett operation - which makes the Elddis, Compass, Xplore and Buccaneer brands - increased staff levels during the year, recruiting 34 employees to make a team of 536.
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Despite the challenges, bosses said the firm managed to continue product development activity and introduce new models for the 2023 financial year.
Well documented semiconductor shortages have caused havoc in the automotive sector with a number of the North East's wider supply chain firms reporting difficulties on the back of fewer available chips in the market. Analyst firm S&P Global recently estimated that around 9.5m units of global light-vehicle production was lost as a direct result of a lack of semiconductors - with most of that impact occurring in the final quarter of 2021.
Writing in the accounts, managing director Chris Short, who joined the firm in early May 2022, said: "Business activities continue to be restricted due to on-going restrictions in component shortages specifically in semi conductor supply to the automotive sector which limited motorhome and campervan trading. In addition to this the business has seen disruptions to chassis supply for motorhome and campervan production.
"Despite this, demand for the company's product continues to be strong, reinforced by on-going product development and new model introductions. The business continues with a strong order book under-pinned by good market demand for its products."
Erwin Hymer Group 海角视频 Ltd is part of the Germany-based Erwin Hymer Group SE, which encompasses 20 brands spanning entry level to luxury models, from tent trailers to smart campers. Its parent company is Indiana-based RV giant Thor Industries, which also owns brands such as Airstream and Starcraft.