Prospects improve for Haydock plastics firm Coral Products

Coral Products, the Haydock-based plastics company, will deliver an upbeat message to shareholders at its annual general meeting at noon today.

Non-executive chairman Joe Grimmond will tell the meeting: “I am pleased to announce that with five months of the current financial period completed, management accounts confirm a very much improved performance to date.

“Sales, gross margin, EBITDA and profit before taxation are all already materially ahead of the full six month period to 31 October 2017.

“With October well advanced, we expect a much-improved performance overall for the six months to 31 October 2018.”

Mr Grimmond said: “We remain confident of further progress in the coming year.”

Last month the company, which produces recycling bins for the food and garden industries, unveiled disappointing annual results, announcing it had suffered an almost £1m reversal in its pre-tax profits levels.

However, it said the company was looking forward with confidence to an improved performance in the coming year.

Results for the year to April 30, revealed a pre-tax loss of £497,000, compared with a profit of £465,000 the previous year, despite achieving a 9.2% improvement in turnover of £24.4m.

The group blamed a poor performance at the Coral Products Mouldings division in the first eight months of the financial year.

However, the report said the division is now firmly established as an automotive parts supplier, with four major accounts.

Historically, Coral initially specialised in producing plastic CD, video and DVD cases, but the industry changed as consumers turned to downloading entertainment content, and the company switched to new lines.