Romag profits down

The company, which develops composite materials for solar photovoltaic (PV) devices used in the energy, security, transport and architecture markets, also reported revenue down 41 per cent to £19.7m from £33.6m following difficult market conditions.

As a result, the company took restructuring action in 2009 resulting in the loss of 70 employees and the renegotiation of material input prices. Market changes have also led the group to refocus its geographic spread and in the year ahead the company hopes to extend its activities to Africa, the Middle East and the US.

However, sales in the UK performed well with a growth of 61 per cent over last year accounting for 53 per cent of total sales. Chief executive, Lyn Miles, said that the company was planning to increase its UK market share and hoped for further positive growth following the introduction of the government’s feed-in tariff in April.

‘As far as solar is concerned, the UK market sadly has lagged behind, because the rest of mainland Europe has introduced feed-in tariffs much sooner that the UK,’ she told The Engineer Online. ‘But in the UK, the government has taken its time, done its research and hopefully come up with a system that works. We’re hoping that 2010 will be a year of recovery and a large part of that will come from the UK.’