Fenner sees growth in business

FENNER today said it expects to see continued growth in revenue and profits this year after all of its divisions enjoyed positive trading.

The Hull-based world leader in conveyor belt manufacturing told shareholders at its annual general meeting that trading in the first quarter of its 2008 financial year “has continued the positive trends seen in the previous year”.

The group said that the performance of its seals business had helped drive revenues and profits in its advanced engineering products division while its conveyor belting operations in the Asia Pacific region were enjoying high levels of demand which would be helped by the opening of a new manufacturing unit in Shanghai last November.

Its UK and European belting businesses are thriving thanks to new markets in Eastern Europe while in the US its business is trading ahead of last year with strong order books.

Chief executive Mark Abrahams told shareholders: “Group revenues and profits are performing ahead of the prior year and in line with our expectations.”

Fenner is the world leader in the global conveyor belting market with 3,500 staff. Its products include lightweight and heavyweight conveyor belting for the mining

and power generation markets, precision motion control products for the computer, copier and mechanical equipment markets, and sealing products for the mining, hydraulics and oil and gas industries.

In November the group paid £1.3m for the New York privately-owned engineering business B-loc which produces and sells specialist power transmission and motion control components and last month it bought Australian company Spliceline. It said both acquisitions were “integrating satisfactorily”.

In the year to August 31 Fenner announced a 15 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £33.6m on revenue of £380m.