ELECTRIC vehicles and lift platforms maker Tanfield yesterday said it saw no sign that poor current trading levels will improve, forecasting nothing better than a break-even performance next year.

The County Durham firm, which has already been cutting costs, said in a brief trading update that its cash position had increased 9.2 per cent from £12m at the end of September to £13.1m on October 31 and it had no debt.

Trading remained tough and it was continuing to reduce its inventory levels.

However, it was confident it remained “well placed to continue to weather the storm”.

A spokesman said: “We have further scope to take cost out and remain at breakeven level.”

Tanfield said it was now operating in “challenging global markets” with the lack of availability of credit to customers and a general reduction in demand, resulting from the economic downturn, creating significant market uncertainty. Pricing pressures, combined with higher input costs, were also “significantly impacting” margins and profitability.

The statement said: “Despite these challenges, we continue to trade at a lower level and have reduced capacity and costs which has allowed us to return to break-even at these levels.

“While market uncertainty makes future forecasting difficult, our 2009 plans broadly assume a continuation of current trading conditions with no sign yet of any upturn.

“We continue to review the scope for additional cost cuts with a view to further reducing our break-even level in the event of any further deterioration in trading.”

Tanfield said its financial position remained comfortable, with no borrowings, and cash balances were expected to rise further.

It added: “The directors continue to believe that the business is very well placed to weather the downturn and take advantage of market improvements when they arise.”

The company yesterday confirmed that following a period of active involvement with the executive team, chairman Roy Stanley would, with immediate effect, revert to his role as non-executive chairman.

In September, in its interim results, Tanfield revealed a £65m loss in the first six months of the year after writedowns on goodwill and intangible assets.

It had previously announced that 30 jobs were to go at its engineering services division in Tanfield Lea, along with 85 at its Smith Electric Vehicle and Upright Powered Access divisions at its Vigo Centre base in Washington, Wearside.

In July, its market value plunged from £700m to a low of about £18m, with shares sinking to a low of 5p, from about £2 a year ago.