Brunner Mond said it was poised to turn the corner after ending a tough year with heavy losses. The Northwich-based company, taken private in a £145m deal in 1998, made 132 workers redundant, most voluntarily, and a further 71 jobs went in Kenya - the equivalent of a sixth of its work force. As the price of soda ash continued to drop, it saw turnover in the six months to December fall 10.6% from £82.9m to £74.1m, plunging it deeper into the red. After paying interest of £10.1m, the group was left with half-year losses of £7.3m, against £3.3m in the same period of 1998. Operating profits fell 47% in the last three months of 1999 to £2.3m. The company has taken a heavy knock from excess global capacity of soda ash forcing down prices in all of its markets.
