ADM Pressings aims to increase sales by 25%

The owners of a Tyneside car panel company have created 15 new jobs and expect to add more in the coming months, as they implement their growth plans and look to increase sales by over 25% this year.

Andy Wingfield, David Horn and Mark Thornton bought Newcastle-based Widney Pressings from the administrators in April last year, re-naming it ADM Pressings and saving the jobs of the 67 staff.

While the first year’s sales of £5 million were slightly down on expectations, they expect to achieve revenues of £7 million in 2010. This is being helped by an investment in a £600,000 press that puts them at the forefront of the UK market-place.

The company has been in a 100,000ft2 factory on Scotswood Road since 1956, having originally ‘spun out’ of the Vickers Engineering tool shop. It manufactures panels and other products for makes and models of cars that are no longer mass-produced. ADM is also focused on becoming the supplier of choice to some of the UK’s premier car marques and is looking at how its skills could serve other markets — such as the energy and oil and gas sectors. Managing director Andy Wingfield says: “We have been running the company for over 14 months and, while the first year’s sales of £5 million were a bit behind what we expected, the overall performance was good.”

Last year’s pre-tax profits stood at £720,000, and the company has just landed a £2 million contract with Jaguar supplier Unipart. It has been supplying replacement panels for the E-Type Jaguar for decades and has also secured work from Bentley; it now makes 67 separate components for the Mulsanne grand tourer. Other customers include Land Rover, GKN, JCB and Caterpillar.