It’s time for Melrose’s turnaround wizards to show their magic

Turnover across the group plunged by more than a quarter to £4.1bn with sales expected to crater by a third at GKN’s aerospace arm by the end of the year, having already fallen by that much at its automotive and materials units.

Justin Dowley, the chairman, isn’t wrong when he says “these are extraordinary times” but shouldn’t an outfit that comes with a planet-sized reputation for steering businesses through tough times be able to navigate through this too?

Melrose makes the point that its lofty “Buy, Improve, Sell” strategy worked during the last global crash. True but that was a financial crisis. This is a crisis of everything – almost every sector of the economy is experiencing the deepest downturn ever.

It would certainly be the perfect opportunity to justify the eye-watering bonuses lavished on the firm’s top four bosses in 2018 – £170m between the top four.

There’s the odd scrap of comfort – trading in the car industry and at air-conditioning maker Nortek has been at the higher end of expectations in recent weeks and R&D spending has been kept at £100m a year.

Still, that won’t be much consolation for the thousands of people that are expected to lose their jobs at GKN’s aerospace arm.

Apparently Melrose is “excited about the opportunity” to show that its model “will once again deliver”, maybe not in the usual three to five-year time-frame but still in “five to seven years” predicts boss Simon Peckham.

There will certainly be no shortage of chances.

Sorry state of affairs

When is an apology not an apology? When it’s coming from energy giant SSE.

The company has received a second regulatory fine in the space of a fortnight, this time for failing to disclose a deal that boosted the UK electricity’s supply by 3pc.

The folk at SSE didn’t think the agreement was market sensitive despite the impact that it would have on wholesale prices.