Challenges remain but Renold confident of further growth
Challenges around supply chain and rising costs continue for manufacturing group Renold as it revealed its latest financials.
The Manchester-based international supplier of industrial chains and related power transmission products, said it was confident of a return to growth as the pandemic hit revenues for the full year to 31 March.
Revenues were down from £189.4m to £165.3m with pre-tax profits up from £4.9m to £5.9m.
Its order book showed improvement, with closing order book around 10% ahead of 31 March 2020.
Renold said the Covid-19 situation remained mixed with Europe, Americas and China recovering strongly, whilst India and SE Asia have been impacted by new variants in H2.
It said “swift decision making and cost discipline” mitigated sales reduction, despite significant material cost pressures and supply chain disruption.
The group also reported its new Chinese factory was continuing to progress well.
The completion of the major restructuring initiatives, together with the low level of financial leverage, has also put the group “in an ideal position to capitalise on meaningful bolt-on acquisitions” that support its existing operations allowing Renold to accelerate revenue growth and allow entry into new under-represented sectors and geographies.
In April 2021, the group acquired the conveyor chain business of Brooks, headquartered in Manchester.
CEO Robert Purcell said: “I am pleased with the Group’s robust performance through the pandemic which reflected the benefits of the strategic development completed over prior years.
“In particular, our employees around the world have responded excellently to the challenges we have faced and I thank them for their dedication and commitment to the Company and our customers.
“Throughout the year the business performance has been on an improving trend and I am pleased to report that our order books have continued to grow in the early part of the new financial year.
“Whilst there remain considerable Covid-19-related challenges in some parts of the world, with supply chain issues and rising costs, we are well placed to deal with these and our performance over the last 12 months gives me confidence that we will return to growth in the new financial year.”
