The Governor of the Bank of England joined board members of BMRA member, Sackers, to discuss current trading conditions and economic headwinds.

Andrew Bailey, who has been Governor of the Bank of England since 2020, visited Sackers for discussions as part of a fact-finding mission to Suffolk, which included visits to brewers Adnams and the Port of Felixstowe.

Chief Financial Officer Nigel Canham represents Sackers as one of the Bank of England’s contact companies in East Anglia. His relationship with Bank officials helped set up the talks on Tuesday at Sackers’ Great Blakenham facility near Ipswich.

“It was our pleasure to host Andrew Bailey and his team,” Nigel explained. “Our board of directors discussed our recent trading experiences with him and how we view the outlook for trading patterns in the coming 12 months.

“It was a valuable meeting that covered wide-ranging topics such as supply chain challenges, inflation, the impact of the war in Ukraine and recruitment pressures.

“We also took the opportunity to discuss our drive to net zero, the valuable global impact our business has and the benefits of recycling commodities. Our growth and expansion plans and our importance as an exporter of valuable raw materials were also discussed.”

In the talks were Mr Bailey and his team, Phil Eckersley, Lorna Pringle and Nick McLaren, together with the Sackers board - CEO David Dodds, Directors Adrian and Ewan Dodds, Chairman Chris Gray and CFO Nigel Canham.

David Dodds said: “Sackers was honoured that the Bank of England Governor chose to spend time visiting us and learning about our business.

“It’s certainly a testing time for the economy, as this week’s 9% inflation figure confirms. We hope we gave Mr Bailey a useful insight into the challenges we face as a company operating in the UK and internationally.”

Sackers offers commercial waste management alongside metal recycling, with substantial amounts of metals exported worldwide for reuse.

The company has been in operation for nearly 100 years but is very much looking ahead, pledging to be carbon neutral by 2040, ten years ahead of the Government’s net-zero target.