Plastics firm returns to profit and is bullish for the future

Coral Products, the Haydock-based plastics company, has returned to profit, its half year report revealed today.

It made a pre-tax profit of £582,000, compared with a £7,000 loss the previous year.

Sales for the six months to Ocrtober 31, were £13.08m, compared with £11.91m in 2017.

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, including recycling bins for the food and garden industries, and automotive parts.

Today’s update revealed that the re-organisation and turn-around of the Haydock manufacturing facility has continued, with positive site profits in all of the six months of this financial year.

The commitment to the group’s 360-degree re-cycling supply initiative has been realised by the purchase of a state-of-the-art plastic recycling system.

The system will be installed next month, and commissioned in January 2019, with contribution expected before the end of the current financial period.

The capital investment programme continued across the group with investment in state-of-the-art injection moulding machines, blow moulding capacity and extruding capability.

This will reduce operating costs, improve capacity and technical availability as well as open up new areas of business.

A new product development partnership with Rotite has already resulted in two new products being developed, with tools being ordered for introduction during 2019/20, said Coral.

In addition, some current products have benefited from design changes making for cost savings: “Our customers have shown high interest in these new and improved products,” the group said.

Joe Grimmond, Coral’s chairman, said: “Trading in the first half of the current year shows a substantial improvement of all our financial headlines.

“We are delighted with the performance of the business in the first half.

“The main feature of the results is the excellent turnaround of Coral Products (Mouldings) into profit and we are optimistic that this trend will continue.

“This improvement reflects the huge amount of effort put in by the Coral team.

“We have increased investment in business development, new products, production capacity and employee capabilities.

“These investments have strengthened our position in injection moulding, blow moulding and plastic extrusion, whilst at the same time expanding the range of plastic services we supply.”

He added: “I am pleased to report that results to date are well ahead of the same period last year and that, in spite of the prevailing uncertainties of Brexit, we remain confident of the group’s future prospects.”