British Steel has reported a strong financial performance in its first year as an independent business.

In the 12 months ending 31 March 2017, the company made a £47 million profit, with an annual turnover of £1.2 billion.

The volume of steel produced was 2.7 million tonnes versus 2.9 million tonnes in 2015-16. Sales were 2.5 million tonnes versus 2.6 million tonnes for the previous year.

Overall, the company made a £126m turnaround and enjoyed its best performance for a decade.

Key highlights include:

• Supplied all of the rail for the Crossrail project in London – 57km of track in total

• 500 new employees joined since 1 June, 2016

• 50 new people starting this month

• New Chief Executive Officer appointed

• £40m of capital investment pledged for 2017–18

• Employees given 5% stake in business, 3% salary sacrifice concludes

• Recently completed an ownership transfer securing a 50% stake in Redcar Bulk Terminal

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• 2nd year focus on increasing steel-making capability and market footprint, & improving product quality.

British Steel Executive Chairman Roland Junck said: "The transformation in this business is remarkable and that is down to our remarkable people who have embraced, engineered and led change.

"They are the reason we can today reveal the best financial performance in the long products business since 2007 and they are the reason I have great optimism for the future of British Steel.

"I'm delighted to be able to confirm that our employees will return to full pay today having sacrificed 3% of their salary to make last year's sale and the turnaround plan possible."

While union Unite welcomed the positive figures from British Steel, it warned against the challenges of cheap Chinese steel being brought into the European market.

Unite national officer for steel, Harish Patel, said: "We welcome the positive results produced by British Steel and our members are feeling much more secure today than they did a year ago.

"British Steel now needs to build on its initial success by properly investing in its skilled workforce. However despite the positive results there remain serious challenges. The problem of China dumping cheap steel into the European market is a key issue. The failure of the European Union to take action to tackle this problem is very worrying.

"On a local and national level the government's failure to support the steel industry and its lack of an effective industrial strategy is absolutely reprehensible. The government should be investing in British Steel's future by providing relief on business rates, while also providing financial incentives to encourage research and development."

(LM)