Farrel UK sees healthy sales in second quarter

By David Shaw, ERJ staff

Rochdale, UK -- Farrel International reports strong sales in the first part of the year. Ian Wilson said the company has won a number of contracts for new mixing lines in India, and also in Europe. Wilson said, "We are seeing an excellent series of order intakes." These will comfortably secure the future of the UK-based unit for the foreseeable future, he noted.

Farrel has even won an order for a mixer in Switzerland. The company will supply a new intermix unit to Compounds AG, for installation later this year in the company's new headquarters in Pfaffikon, Switzerland. Compounds AG -- the former mixing unit of Huber & Suhner -- is moving from its old city-centre location to a new building on the edge of town where it intends to install a top-end custom-built mixing centre in the second half of 2009. The new line will be installed first, then the old line will be closed and moved into the new facility, after modernisation and upgrading.

Wilson noted that the company had released about a dozen permanent employees earlier this year, along with a larger number of contract and temporary workers. Most of them were part of an early retirement programme and others were voluntary. He said it had not been a real issue among the workforce and he did not expect any further job losses.

Asked about rumours that the parent company intends to move out of its existing offices and workshops in Ansonia Connecticut, Wilson said it was not his area, so he could not give definitive details, but he understood the company was exploring options in that respect and was expecting to move in the next few months.