Anglo European claims to have added more than half a million pounds in new business during lockdown and into the first week of June.
Returning to work from start of May following temporary closure in response to Government guidance on Covid-19, Anglo said it had seen demand exceed its forecasts.
This included the signing of five new accounts in May, plus, four in the first week of June, with a further four expected to agree terms before the middle of the month, representing new business win of half-a-million pounds.
Lee Marriott, group business development director, Anglo European, said this would mean volume would be back at 60% of its pre-Covid level by the month’s end.
He said: “The demand we have seen has been significantly over and above what we projected – and we spent a lot of time projecting. It’s being driven by three things.
“The first of these is that the demand for product has been high and money is flowing throughout the supply chain.
“The second, is that a lot of companies are looking to sure-up their supply chain. A number of reinforcement suppliers didn’t come back last month – and in fact still haven’t come back. People are shifting supply to where they can get product, but I think they’re also looking to buy from UK suppliers. We manufacture in the UK with steel made in the UK.
“Then third, they get that they can make savings,” continued Lee. “They’ve used lockdown to look at costs and their overheads and when they can take them out, without impacting on quality, they are.”
In buying reinforcement direct from Anglo, the company says that fabricators can cut the price they paid for steel reinforcement by 30-40%.
The figures, which are based on buying-in cut-to-size reinforcement, represent the culmination of labour and employment costs, reduced wastage and the lower unit price achieved through direct supply.
Anglo says that it can also provide significant savings for even smaller fabricators, with those manufacturing only 100 units a week achieving average savings of £235 a week or £12,220 a year. The potential savings for those manufacturers producing around 1,000 fpw runs as high as £2,354 a week or £122,408 a year.
Savings for larger fabricators are, according to Anglo, even more impressive – up to £184,000 per year for manufacturers doing 1,500 fpw and £240,000 a year or more for those making 2,000 fpw.
“It’s not just reinforcements, we’ve seen increased demand for aluminium bi-fold cleats and bay couplers,” Lee added.
“Anglo has been around for a long time, we’re a British business, sourcing raw materials and manufacturing product in the UK. People don’t want to miss out on orders because they’re waiting on their steel reinforcement order. Things are moving too fast.”
