AN electronics company is eyeing further expansion of its North-East plant after a strong performance last year which continued into this year with the plant’s best sales for several years.

Stadium Group, which yesterday revealed an 18 per cent drop in profits for last year, said its Hartlepool plant exceeded expectations with strong sales, particularly in the second half of 2009.

The plant, which saw 19 redundancies at the start of last year as the group made efficiencies across its operation, saw £250,000 investment and the creation of 16 jobs towards the end of the year as its fortunes began to recover.

That turnaround has continued into this year with the plant, which employs 110 people, seeing a level of sales not experienced for many years, and could mean the further expansion of the site.

Nigel Rogers, chief executive of Stadium, said he was confident of Hartlepool’s performance going forward, as well as that of the wider group, which also has operations in Warwickshire and China, adding: “Hartlepool performed very well, and is achieving a level of sales that hasn’t been seen for a number of years. We are confident that performance will continue.

“We created a number of jobs and saw significant investment in Hartlepool in the later part of last year.”

In its results, to the end of December 2009, Stadium revealed pre-tax profits fell to £2.28m from £2.78m, and revenue also dipped by 2.2 per cent to £46.57m.