ANTRIM-based manufacturer Camden Group ended the 2016 trading year with a loss of more than a million pounds.
Despite generating a turnover of nearly £40 million, the depreciation of the firm's underlying property and equipment, alongside its high cost of sales and operations, left the company in the red. In 2015 itmade a profit after tax of £640,000.
The firm specialises in the manufacturing of double-glazed windows, doors and panels.
In a strategic report accompanying their accounts, Camden’s directors said that both the level of business and the financial position at the year’s end were considered 'satisfactory'.
Bosses also cited the increasing price of raw materials and the maintaining of sales levels as their key business risks and uncertainties. They also warned that if the company "fails to compete successfully"; its market share and profitability could decline.
Directors also declared that and interim dividend of £1.13 for every £1 share would be granted to shareholders.
At year-end March 31, the total value of Camden’s shareholders funds stood at £8.8m.
In 2016, the average number of staff at the company stood at 579. This is comprised of mainly production workers, supplemented by administration and sales employees and represents a 20 per cent increase from 2015’s figure of 481.
The staff wage bill and pension contributions for the year came to £11.7m.
The Camden Group is a family-owned business and has been in operation for more than 30 years, producing up to 10,000 window-frames a week at its 40-acre site in Antrim town.
At its height in 2008, the firm employed 630 workers and generated pre-tax profits of nearly £5m, before declining sharply in the years that followed.
