Manufacturing News

Bradken’s sales drop 10 per cent, warns more job losses to come

Mining services company Bradken is warning more job cuts are on the horizon as the company struggles deal with the mining downturn.

As the big miners restrict capex budgets and cut costs across the board, Bradken’s 2013 sales fell 10 per cent.

Facing shareholders at its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, Bradken chief executive Brian Hodges said the company expects this year’s revenues to be similar to last year’s.

Hodges warned the first half of 2014 will be a challenge marked by a ''dramatic'' drop off in orders from mining companies.

 ''It started in October for us and has been quite strong and dramatic,'' he said.

''We stress the first half of 2014 will be quite challenging.''

The company forecasts business will improve in the second half of 2014.

“Bradken’s low levels of order intake in the four months to July and improved levels in August and September cannot yet be considered a future trend,” Bradken said in its investor presentation.

''If recent improvements in order intake continue, we still expect the year to be broadly comparable with 2013.”

About 1,200 jobs have been cut across the company’s US and Australian operations in the last 12 months.

“The first half of FY14 is challenging with the market downturn forcing further redundancies,” the company said.

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