British Steel - Insolvency



MarcoGoalo said:
Didn't think we could bail out certain industries such as steel as it would be seen as state aid which goes against EU law.

Could be wrong like.
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We are leaving the EU though so let’s not discount nationalising it. Should also make sure Network Rail buys all its steel from within the U.K.
 
Hep said:
because it's not a viable business
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Global economics indeed.
Cheap Chinese imports and with the competition not subject to the same health and safety or environmental conditions is it really a surprise.
Very worrying indeed.
Need to downscale and supply niche markets with lower batch runs to stand any chance. The Government are not going to subsidise a loss making business.
They would prefer to invest in a multi million and escalating cost train line that can save 40 minutes on a journey from London to Birmingham.
Meanwhile supporting a national house building campaign that is preparing for another housing crash as jobs continue to be lost with an increasing population.
Concerning.
 
wasnt there something about the high end specialist steel being produced by the UK which the chinese werent able to replicate on the cheap?

Do they not do a lot of manufacture for the car industry as well as it is apparently a bespoke process?

Caveat - this could all be bollox
 
Hardyman's Yugo said:
And then what? Who are they going to make steel for if the customers buy it from China instead? I agree it may be worthwhile short term if EU rules allow it, but only if there is a buyer in prospect

BBC has a bloke on the news last night saying China has produced more steel in the last two years than the UK has in total since we first developed the process
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Doesn't look like it's a goer anyway. Seems that nationalisation would only work if it's viable, Govt. can't nationalise and then continuously prop up a failing business under EU rules.
 
Keawyeds said:
Obviously we have money for the DUP, non-existent ferries and Brexit... but not British Steel.

Ridiculous
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Totally agree with the sentiment, but its not really "British Steel". They just changed the name to that when the last buyers bought a failing company for £1 to garner some sympathy.

Still, the banks were private companies too, and we bailed those fuckers out. That was fine, apparently.

LondonBlackCat said:
Doesn't look like it's a goer anyway. Seems that nationalisation would only work if it's viable, Govt. can't nationalise and then continuously prop up a failing business under EU rules.
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I wonder how much of its losses are due to servicing huge piles of debt though?
Is it actually a profitable venture, otherwise?
 
PTR said:
Totally agree with the sentiment, but its not really "British Steel". They just changed the name to that when the last buyers bought a failing company for £1 to garner some sympathy.

Still, the banks were private companies too, and we bailed those fuckers out. That was fine, apparently.


I wonder how much of its losses are due to servicing huge piles of debt though?
Is it actually a profitable venture, otherwise?
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Not sure, it allegedly became profitable, but then it also had a massive carbon tax bill. So was it really profitable or just on paper but not in reality?
 
The union bloke on the news yesterday was calling for nationalisation, if it saves jobs and gives them time to get the business back on track it should be done ASAP.
 
pavarotti1980 said:
wasnt there something about the high end specialist steel being produced by the UK which the chinese werent able to replicate on the cheap?
QUOTE]

Chinese steel and far Eastern for that matter is absolutely shite quality.
Some types are terrible to weld, and do not have the quality for what we expect in the UK and Europe.
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PTR said:
Still, the banks were private companies too, and we bailed those fuckers out. That was fine, apparently.
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I agree with the ‘fucker’ sentiment, but if the banks had gone under our whole economy would have completely crashed. They had to be stabilised for everyone’s sake
 
PTR said:
Totally agree with the sentiment, but its not really "British Steel". They just changed the name to that when the last buyers bought a failing company for £1 to garner some sympathy.

Still, the banks were private companies too, and we bailed those fuckers out. That was fine, apparently.


I wonder how much of its losses are due to servicing huge piles of debt though?
Is it actually a profitable venture, otherwise?
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I wasn't aware of the name thing, but it's still steel made in Britain, by British workers.
Is that at least right?
 
Keawyeds said:
I wasn't aware of the name thing, but it's still steel made in Britain, by British workers.
Is that at least right?
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Yeah. I'm not trying to make an argument against them. I suspect the same factories were once the real "British Steel" too. Just pointing out that they've deliberately changed the name for this exact kind of sympathy.


I'm all for nationalising stuff like this. We need to retain skills and production capacity in the UK. There's a wider effect than the bottom line of a commercial companies' balance books.
 

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