Newsletter 48 -December 2009

"Keeping you Informed"

Prices

(1st Jan 06 = 100 units)

                        From 1st Jan (1st Jan) Last 12 months

                                     2010  (2009)    High           Low

Merchant Bar                 125  (134)      134 (03/09) 120 (07/09)

(Rounds, Flats, Angles etc)                      

Heavy sections              127  (172)     172 (01/09) 127 (01/10)

(Beams, Columns etc)                              

Hollow Sections             130  (154)     140 (01/09) 122 (06/09)  

(Box, Tubes etc)                                     

Prices

Different products are reacting differently, rising or falling with the price of scrap and short term demand. Overall prices seem to have hit rock bottom and are currently just bouncing along, long may this continue as stability is very important.

Supply

Currently in balance but there may be some short term shortages as stock is not being replenished quickly enough.

Demand
We believe that we are now at the bottom of the cycle and that we must get used to the current level of steel consumption as it will not improve during 2010.

Credit

Probably the cause of most concern as we enter Q1 2010.

Tomrods

We have pleasure announcing that our new Financial Director will be Andrew Shakespeare who will join us on 1st February 2010. Andrew has been in the steel industry for over 20 years and will bring much useful knoweldge and experience to the group. We also have pleasure confirming that Melinda Bruce has joined the main board as Company Secretary and again we will benefit from her many years of experience.

As a company Tomrods limited is in good shape after the trials and tribulations of 2009. We have worked through our high price stock items and now face 2010 on a level playing field. We have managed to keep the whole workforce in tact, no redundancies, and have maintained the high level of quality service that our customers expect. We have continued to invest in new equipment and by February we will be in a position to double our sawing capacity.

Despite the worst trading conditions we have ever experienced since our inception in 1974, we still believe there are more opportunities open to us as we utilise our strong balance sheet.

We thank all our customers and suppliers for their support during 2009 and we wish you all the very best for 2010.

Thank you for reading this and if you have any comments about Tomrods Ltd or our website please email the undersigned at johnt@tomrods.co.uk

John Thompson
Managing Director -