FLS's Irish arm loses €4.3m in first nine months

Aircraft maintenance specialist FLS Aerospace's Irish subsidiary lost €4.3 million in the first nine months of the year, while an unofficial overtime ban is causing delays in completing contracts at its Dublin Airport plant.

Its parent, the Danish-headquartered FLS Group, yesterday released results for the first nine months of the year showing that worldwide, the aerospace division lost 90 million Danish Kroner (€12 million), compared with DKK96 million during the same period in 2002.

The results do not show any figure for the its Irish operation's performance. However, last night a spokeswoman said that its share of the loss was €4.3 million, or over DKK30 million. The company was unable to give a comparable figure for last year's losses at the Dublin facility.

Two weeks ago, the 1,500 staff in FLS Aerospace in Dublin instigated an unofficial overtime ban in protest at the company's refusal to pay the 3 per cent due under the national pay deal, Sustaining Progress. FLS is pleading inability to pay the increase.

Last night, the spokeswoman said that the overtime ban was hitting the company's ability to finish contracts on time. "There have been some delays as a result of the ban," she said. However, it has not moved work to other plants.

FLS recently wrote to SIPTU and the craft unions with members at the plant asking them to instruct their workers to end the unofficial action. The craft workers there are seeking a 30 per cent pay rise as well as the national agreement increase.

FLS Aerospace, which also has plants in the UK, expects losses to hit DKK100 million by the end of the year. Aircraft maintenance is suffering from the aviation downturn, and is very competitive, with 16 operators chasing the same contracts in Europe.

Its parent, FLS group, regards the business as non-core and has been in talks with Swiss-based SR Technics.

There was no indication yesterday on the negotiations' progress.

Efforts to sell the operation are part of a strategic plan which the company announced in August 2002. It is expected to be implemented fully by the end of next year.