Trifast sees profits fall and net debt halved

INDUSTRIAL fastening company Trifast has seen a fall in pre-tax profits of £1.62m to £0.92m for the full year ending March 31, 2010.

The company, which has a distribution centre in Waterside Park in Wednesbury, also saw its year-on-year revenues falls from £104.9 to £85.94m.

Trifast’s trading business TR Fastenings is an international manufacturer and distributor of industrial fastenings to the assembly industries, with operations in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

In a company statement, it said it had returned to a ‘sales-led’ structure and by the end of the financial year all business units were trading profitably while stocks were reduced by £3.8m.

Trading remains “buoyant” in Asia, Trifast said, while enquiry levels had increased and net debt had fallen from £8.4m to £4.68m.

It also announced three new board appointments today including Seamus Murphy, from Perton in South Staffordshire.

Trifast chairman Malcolm Diamond said: “We are pleased with the results but it’s a continuing programme and we’re pleased with the first year. We’ve given ourselves and our shareholders three years to turn it back.

“We’ve got a strong Midlands set up and we’re gradually getting back to half decent levels of activity and we’re quite optimistic.

“Phase one of our growth strategy was about stopping the rot and now it’s about rebuilding and strengthening our management team and refining our purchasing strategy.”

In a separate announcement today, Trifast revealed it had expanded its executive board of directors with three new appointments.

Mark Belton joins the board as group finance director, Seamus Murphy is the new director of operations, HR and IT and Glenda Roberts is group sales director.

Mr Belton joined Trifast in 1999 having qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG in 1994.

He was appointed group accountant in 2000 and group financial controller and company secretary in 2004, joining the TR operating board in 2006.

Seamus Murphy is a qualified accountant with commercial experience gained over 20 years in multisite distribution.

Prior to TR, Mr Murphy spent seven years with British Steel Distribution before joining Serco Ryan as finance director, a position he held for 10 of his 14 years with that business until it was acquired by Trifast in 2005. Since then, he has been European purchasing and IT director within TR Fastenings.

Mrs Roberts joined Trifast in 1990 as sales director within the manufacturing operation before moving on to take up roles of sales director within TR Fastenings and TR’s Europe’s industrial divisions between 1997 and 2001.

She was then promoted to strategic business director/sales within TR Fastenings and has over 30 years experience at a senior level within the industrial fastenings sector.

Trifast chairman Malcolm Diamond said: “We have a clear strategy to reposition and rebuild TR’s market position and we have made these board appointments and a number of senior appointments to help achieve our goals.”