Rising market demand increases medium term confidence at manufacturing group

Trifast

A growth in the global fasteners market is giving cause for optimism at supplier Trifast.

The company, which has a base in Birmingham, said predictions were that the global market would grow by around 5% a year over the next five years, with all its regions predicting growth.

“Geographically Europe, Asia and USA all remain key focus areas for us both organically and non-organically and with our new Spanish greenfield site now up and running, we are in a prime position to continue to develop that important market in the future,” the firm said in its full year results.

For the year to March 31, 2017, the group recorded a 7% increase in revenue at constant exchange rates to £172.6m (2016: £161.4m). Underlying pre-tax profit rose 13.2% to £18.1m (2016: £16m).

It said the current financial year had started well and, with a robust pipeline in place, there was no indication this would change.

“The additional investments we are making in our people across the world, including into our global and local sales teams, mean the group is in a good position to move forward,” it said.

“Moreover, the strategic investments we are making in our global Customer Relationship Management systems and our key account management have been specifically targeted to further support our core strategy of focusing on our multinational OEMs.”

Capital expenditure plans will increase capacity at both its Italian and Singaporean sites – a move that will reduce per part production costs, and allow the group to retain higher profits per sale by bringing more manufacturing in-house in the future.

To complement these strong underlying growth plans, further acquisitions remain an important strategic growth pillar for the group.

“Our acquisition strategy has been developed to identify key criteria and geographies and we will continue to use this to drive our proactive search for the next successful acquisition,” it said.

Potential bumps in the road include foreign currency turbulence and the ongoing volatility in the raw materials markets, as well as the wider potential implications of Brexit for the UK economy.

The group said it was already starting to see some purchase price challenges arising out of both the ongoing weakness in sterling and the relative strength of the US dollar, which it expects to increase over time if circumstances persist.

“However, taking the group as a whole, with our geographical diversity, our balanced sector mix and our clear strategies for growth, we remain optimistic about the group’s prospects,” it added.

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