Brinsworth firm shows its metal

METAL manufacturing specialist MTL Advanced is showing strong signs of recovery three months after a partnership deal that brought the company out of administration.

The WEC Group, one of the UK's largest engineering and fabrication companies, funded the deal to acquire the business and certain assets of the Brinsworth-based firm — bringing it out of administration and saving 135 jobs.

MTL has now traded profitably in each of the three months following that deal, compared to month-on-month losses in the previous 12 months.

The company has also won back a £3 million defence contract which it lost when it went into administration in February.

And a major £1 million programme of investment in new equipment for MTL's Rotherham facility is about to get underway.

WEC Group has also announced that it is creating an apprenticeship scheme at the company which will mirror its award-winning training academy.

Last year the WEC Group ranked in the top three large UK apprenticeship providers.

Wayne Wild, commercial director of WEC Group, said: "We have really hit the ground running. And as a result we have seen some positive and encouraging results.

"MTL Advanced is continuing to move forward in the right direction.”

The Darwen-based WEC Group, which was formed in 1979, has forecast a turnover of up to £60 million.