Romag sales fall but boss confident

Dec 16 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

SPECIALIST glass maker Romag has seen sales fall by 41% after orders plummeted and prices halved, but its chief executive Lynn Miles says expects the company to return to growth in 2011.

The Consett company, a market leader in the field of solar-panel glass, saw revenues plummet from £33.6m in 2008 to £19.7m in the 12 months to the end of September 2009.

The financial crisis and subsequent recession saw construction projects grind to a halt and as competitors slashed their prices to secure a foothold in a shrinking market, Romag was forced to reduce its prices by 50%.

Ms Miles said: “As the global financial markets collapsed and project finance was withdrawn by the banks, we saw a brutal and swift downturn and this proved fatal to some of our competitors.

“We were surprised at the level of the downturn and companies like ours were left with a lot of inventory. Some of our competitors, and in particular the Chinese companies, opted to sell at less then cost price. This lead to a dramatic fall in prices, down by as much as 50%.”

Romag cut costs and laid off more than 70 staff, but Ms Miles said that in recent weeks it had been able to recruit some of these workers again and it now employs 155 people at its 120,000sq ft factory on the Leadgate Industrial Estate.