LONDON, November 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Trifast plc (LSE Premium Listing: Ticker: TRI), leading
international specialists in the engineering, manufacturing and
distribution of high quality industrial fastenings to major global
assembly industries has released its Half-year report for the
period to September 2017 - the
results reflect "Another six months of strong growth, with
increased trading driving up the Group's underlying
PBT."
Trifast (TR) has a global footprint that meets the needs
of the Multinational OEM and Tier 1 customers that it supports in
the key sectors of automotive, domestic appliances, electronics and
distributors. It operates in 18 countries through 28 locations and
exports to over 60 countries around the world supplying over 8
billion components every year to over 5000 companies globally.
To read the HY Financial Report in full, please go to
www.trifast.com
To listen to the CEO, Mark
Belton talking about trading and the business follow this
live link:
https://www.brrmedia.co.uk/broadcasts-embed/5a057df02acfc74f9342e193/event
Malcolm Diamond MBE,
Non-Executive Chairman at Trifast commented:
"HY2018 delivered another six months of strong growth,
with ongoing investment across all of our regions.
Our strong first half results, together with a robust balance
sheet, good access to banking facilities and a proven track record
of profitable investment, means the Group is in a great position to
keep moving forward. The second half has started well and, with a
robust pipeline in place, the Board remain confident of delivering
its expectations for the current financial year.
As an international business with over 70% of our revenue
being generated outside of the UK, and a very well-balanced
geographical and sector spread, the Board remains confident we have
the flexibility and foresight to continue to grow, while facing any
challenges head on as and when they arise."
"I am personally proud and delighted to oversee the
further capability development of our business whilst the core
Trifast caring and informal interpersonal culture is jealously
guarded by our management."
"WE ARE FOCUSSED ON
LEVERAGING OUR COMBINED STRENGTHS AS AN INTEGRATED AND INTERACTIVE
GROUP"
SUMMARY POINTS:
TR strategy update
"Our commitment to continuous operational improvement over the
past five years has been rewarded with positive KPI performance
against targets on a consistent annual basis, together with
financial reward for our investors and staff.
Building on this success, the Board, led by Mark Belton, has initiated a major long-term
project to provide the Group with improved real-time management
information (including an innovative customer relationship
management (CRM) and global enquiry system), paralleled with
regular senior team training and operational meetings. This is
aimed at significantly developing and integrating our existing IT
infrastructure around the world so as to support our ongoing growth
plans and meet our multinational OEM customers' evolving demands.
One early benefit of this improved approach is that our six Asian
factories are now sharing factory capacity data to enable work to
be shared at times of feast and famine production issues -
previously these were managed on a local basis, thus restricting
revenue and cost recovery opportunities.
Furthermore, this enhanced use of collective resources is
supported by major capital investments in Italy, Singapore and Taiwan, plus distribution and engineering
capacity investment in the UK, Sweden, Spain
and China.
Our search for suitable acquisitions continues to be a major
strategic aim. Since we last reported in June 2017, two larger international targets were
thoroughly investigated over several months by our newly formed
global acquisitions team, but regrettably, both were finally
rejected - more due to future revenue growth risk than to high
valuations. Our team brings together the skills and experience
needed to conduct initial due diligence without the need to appoint
costly external financial advisers. These advisers will only be
appointed in the future following the successful agreement of
non-binding heads of terms."
Global market overview
"We imagine that there are very few of us in commerce that have
failed to be influenced by the recent geopolitical uncertainty that
has abounded, and which shows every sign of continuing.
The Trifast Board and management team have concluded,
that in our view, global market demand will remain dynamic, and so
we have increased our focus on our customers and our supply chain,
including our pricing negotiations with key suppliers. This is
coupled with our ongoing forward investment in plant and machinery,
automation and people skills."
HY OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS:
- Revenue up by 4.8% at Constant Exchange Rate (CER), 9.0% at
AER, all organic growth
- Underlying diluted earnings per share up by 8.1% at AER
- Confidence for the future and continued profitable growth in a
period of investment, drives an interim dividend increase of 10.0%
to 1.10p
- Ongoing investment for growth in our sales teams and operations
around the world
- Capital investment of £1.3m increases our manufacturing
capacity and capability, with more to follow
- Expanded distribution facilities in Shanghai, with plans in place for Holland and Northern
Ireland
- New TR Innovation and Technical Centre to be set up in
Gothenburg, Sweden's electric
vehicle development area
- TR Fastenings Espana up and running, with a strong
pipeline in place
Group website: www.trifast.com
The Group employs c.1,200 staff across 28 global
locations across the UK, Europe,
Asia and the USA.
For more information, visit
Commercial website: www.trfastenings.com
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/company/tr-fastenings
Twitter: www.twitter.com/trfastenings
Facebook: www.facebook.com/trfastenings
Enquiries please contact:
Trifast plc
Office: +44(0)1825-747630
Head of Group Marketing - Abi Burnett
Email: corporate.enquiries@trifast.com
TooleyStreet
Communications, IR & media relations
Fiona Tooley
Tel: +44(0)7785-703523
Email: fiona@tooleystreet.com
SOURCE Trifast Plc