THE future was looking brighter for thousands of Teesside steel workers this week as steel operator Corus announced it was in profit for the first time.

Soaring steel prices and a robust restructuring plan boosted the former British Steel business.

The company brought a halt to five years of losses with half-year pre-tax profits of £163m, compared with a deficit of £89m last time.

The turnaround follows a traumatic start to life for the company - formed from British Steel and Dutch firm Hoogovens in 1999.

Since the merger, the company has racked up losses totalling £1bn and cut thousands of jobs.

But chief executive Philippe Varin, who took the helm last year, said there had been a 'substantial improvement' in the performance of the business, which has plants in Port Talbot, Scunthorpe and Rotherham. Corus set up the Teesside operation as a stand-alone business - Teesside Cast Products, based at Redcar - as part of its restructuring plan to get back in profit. It is currently in negotiations with a consortium to sell the business.

The Redcar plant employs 2,000 people and has been earmarked to operate as a stand-alone slab-exporter.

Corus said discussions with interested parties were taking place but did not provide further details in this week's announcement.

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Ashok Kumar welcomed the news.

He said: "As a former steelworker I am delighted to hear that Corus is now highly profitable. It shows how the company has been turned around under the leadership of Philippe Varin. It is also a great tribute to the Corus workforce who have fully co-operated with the management to make sure this was achieved.

"The result also shows that the world demand is buoyant. This is good news in particular for the Teesside operations. There were many who doubted the strategy of making Teesside a bulk supplier for the export market, but it seems the judgement displayed by the Corus board has paid off."

Mr Varin said steel prices were soaring because of strong demand from China, following several years of overproduction around the world, which caused the company's problems.

Corus has also secured £220m of annual cost savings from its 'Restoring Success' turnaround programme. The company expects progress to continue in the second half of the financial year.