6 | Aycliffe Today Business
STRONG
SEVEN MONTHS
FOR FINLEY
STRUCTURES
John Finley
A Newton Aycliffe construction firm is
on course to at least equal its record
turnover after a strong first half of the
year.
‘THE WHOLE IS
ALWAYS GREATER
THAN THE SUM’
As someone born and bred in the North
East, I have always been incredibly
proud of my roots and I consider it a
great honour to wear the chains of
office for the region’s largest business
membership organisation.
It is not a position I take lightly. I intend
to use my time as President to highlight
and promote the many great things we
do in our region and use my position
as Chief Executive of Newcastle
International Airport to help carry the
message overseas.
I gave a lot of thought to a theme for
my time in post. My conclusion is
that our focus should be on working
together. The whole is always greater
than the sum of the parts and without
regional unity we’re making things
harder for ourselves and harder for our
businesses.
We have made significant strides in
this area in recent years with our two
excellent Local Enterprise Partnerships
that do business in the right way. They
are resource light, quick, efficient, ask
difficult questions and rightly prioritise
the investments they make. Is this the
way we want it to be? I say yes.
I’m also pleased that my Presidency
will include NECC celebrating 200
years since regional traders first
formed an organisation to support local
business and 20 years since the North
East Chambers united. This was in
recognition that businesses across the
North East believe there is much more
that unites than divides us. We mustn’t
lose that, even if some administrative
boundaries have been re-drawn.
I would like to use this opportunity
to put down in print my thanks and
admiration of John Mowbray OBE, who
passes on the Presidency and is an
incredibly hard act to follow.
He has represented NECC with
distinction and class. I hope my time in
the post will be as successful.
David Laws
NECC President
Family-run Finley Structures is set to top £8.5m
for the seven months from April to October
after a flurry of big orders.
The steel fabricators turned over £4m from April
to July, while current and future projects over
the next three months total £4.5m.
Earlier this year, Finley’s reported a record
turnover of £15m for the year up to March 2013
- an increase of 33% on the previous year.
Managing director John Finley says his firm is
up to capacity through to the end of October
- and is looking to create more new jobs after
taking on additional staff this year.
“It’s certainly a very buoyant market at the
moment, said Mr Finley, who’s one of the key
”
members of the Aycliffe Business Park steering
group.
“Our order book is continually growing - we’re
at capacity now right through to the end of
October and there’s still plenty of work out
there.
“Of course, it remains a fiercely competitive
market and margins are extremely tight, but the
industry is in a much better state now than it
has been for a long time.
“We’ve enjoyed a very healthy first half of the
year but the winter months are typically quiet
in this industry, so we’re forecasting to at least
equal last year’s figures up to March next year.
”
Finley’s has increased its workforce in the last
year to cope with a strong order book, up to 59
full-time employees made up of 42 production
and 17 office staff, while its sister company,
SCH Site Services, currently employs 34
people, making a total of 93 staff combined.
The firm, based less than a mile away from
Merchant Park, the venue for Hitachi Rail
Europe’s £82m train-building facility, is set
to work on a 300-tonne contract at Poniel,
South Lanarkshire, for Muir Construction and
a 530-tonne project for Bam Construction at
Sunderland College.
Other orders include a 550-tonne job at
Sovereign Place, Leeds, for Morgan Sindall,
a 450-tonne project at Ian Ramsey School
in Stockton for Sir Robert McAlpine and a
220-tonne student accommodation scheme
at Stoddart Street in Newcastle for Brims
Construction.
Mr Finley added: “We’re working with a
number of contractors across the North East,
as far North as Scotland and as far South as
Lincolnshire.
”
AYCLIFFE BUSINESS
LEADER PRAISES HITACHI
heading to the town on the A167 has praised
,
MPD for its “open approach” and willingness to
communicate with local businesses.
Mr Spensley is on the steering group which
helped to set up and launch the ABP initiative, in
cooperation with Business Durham, in January.
He said: “Geoff came to our latest meeting
and I just thought everything he said was so
positive.
A leading businessman in Newton Aycliffe has
praised the company which is responsible for
delivering Hitachi Rail Europe’s £82m trainbuilding facility.
Newcastle-based Merchant Place
Developments (MPD) was awarded the contract
to construct and fit out Hitachi’s new facility in
County Durham.
The company’s director Geoff Hunton attended
a news and networking event organised by the
Aycliffe Business Park (ABP) steering group in
June.
And Dave Spensley, managing director of
Aycliffe Fabrications, the firm famous for making
the ‘Aycliffe Head’ which greets motorists
“He was very open about what’s happening,
where the Hitachi development is at, and gave a
thorough update to everyone who attended.
“They’re willing to listen and communicate
with all businesses, whether you run a cleaning
business or a multi-million-pound engineering
company, and I think it’s appreciated by
everyone on Aycliffe Business Park.
”
Around 50 businesses attended ABP’s latest
news and networking event at Ebac.
The next Aycliffe Business Park event ????)????!????????????M?????????L????)?????????????????????????????????)???????????????????????????????((0