Solid performance for fasteners manufacturer

Trifast

Fasteners manufacturer Trifast has delivered another strong year of growth with its directors optimistic about the company’s progress in the coming financial year.

The company, which has an operation in Wednesbury, said it continued to perform well across all its regions in the year to the end of March.

Revenues have increased by 5.8% at CER and are up 5.7% to £209m at Actual Exchange Rate (AER) for FY2019.

Trifast said there has been a very successful first year in the group for its latest acquisition, Precision Technology Supplies (PTS), which has contributed a further 3.6% of growth to the top-line.

The company said its largest source of organic growth continues to be from its multinational Tier 1’s in the automotive sector, with strong global automotive sales growth of 6.4% recorded in the year.

“Excluding the impact of the widely publicised volume reductions in our most established automotive market in the UK, this growth rate would be higher still at 8.7%, as we continue to successfully win market share around the world via new platform builds, despite the reduction in global manufacturing volumes,” Trifast said.

Gross margins have been maintained in line with its 30% target (FY2018: 30.5%) despite the impacts of anticipated purchase price inflation in the UK and the upfront costs of its ongoing investments into manufacturing capacity in its European region.

This has allowed its underlying operating margins to increase by 10bps to an historic high of 11.6% (FY2018: 11.5%), up 6.7% to £24.2m at CER, 6.5% to £24.2m at AER (FY2018: £22.7m).

All of the above helped to drive strong AER growth in both underlying profit before tax, up 5.8% to £23.5m (FY2018: £22.2m) and underlying diluted EPS, up 5.4% to 14.53p (FY2018: 13.78p).

Chief executive Mark Belton and Clare Foster, CFO, said: “The group has continued to perform well across all our regions, delivering another year of strong growth.

“Trifast has delivered a solid performance and the directors remain optimistic about the progress the business will make over the coming financial year.  Our highly experienced teams are dedicated to researching, developing, marketing and selling innovative products that meet today’s high expectations that all our customers demand in terms of quality, value and price.

“Despite the potential implications of Brexit and the continuing trade tensions between the US and China, the board remains confident in its strategy, its people and the group’s flexibility to adapt to change.”

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