Burnley's aerospace giant hits sales of £10.5million (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Burnley's aerospace giant hits sales of £10.5million

6:00pm Thursday 16th August 2012 in Business By Jonathon Dillon, Assistant news editor

SALES at one of Burnley's biggest private sector employers have hit £10.5million, despite a drop in pre-tax levels.

Aerospace giant Aircelle , which employs more than 700 workers at its site in Bancroft Road, posted turnover of £134million, up year-on-year from £123.5million.

But gross profits dropped from £15.1m to £12.2m which it attributed to issues on quality and production improvements during 2011.

Operating profit fell from £9.28m to £6.55m and pre-tax profit dropped from £8.83m to £6.25m.

Despite the falls, a £3.1m smaller tax bill in the year to 31 December 2011 helped to increase overall profit from £3.8m to £4.29m.

Aircelle is the sole systems manu-facturer and integrator for engine nacelles on the A380.

That providies a state-of-the art system that includes the first use of electrical thrust reverser actuationy system (ETRAS) on commercial jetliners.

Last month the French-owned firm signed a major deal with Rolls Royce.

That deal allowed Aircelle to provide complete support on the nacelles it produces and supplies for the Rolls-Royce Trent 900s that power British Airways’ fleet of 12 A380s.

Alan Hood was appointed managing director of Aircelle in December last year.

He succeeded Andrew White who moved to another position within the Safran Group.