THE chairman of engineering firm Mechan Controls says he believes the region will avoid the dreaded double- dip recession.

The Skelmersdale firm, which makes electronic safety switches, reported that sales and profits were up in the first half of the year as its sales remained strong.

Chairman Wilf Boardman expects the business to keep growing and to show double-digit profit growth by the end of the year.

He said his industry showed no sign of another slump into recession.

“2009 was one of the worst years on record, but we managed to treble profits in that period,” he said.

“There were reasons for that – we had a particularly large project we’d done for the Post Office, and we’d had to fight international competition to get that, so that was very profitable for us.

“As for this year – in terms of the general industrial climate, it’s nothing like as bad as it was in 2009.

“So where we sit, there’s no sign of a double-dip recession – that’s looking at the markets we follow, our competitors and our peers.

“As for the people who do our deliveries for us, their business is up 35% this year. They deliver commercial stuff, not birthday cards.

“These are real industries, at the coalface. This is not media-driven, top-down stuff.”

Mechan’s switches can automatically shut down machinery in certain circumstances to ensure the safety of people using it.