Global Fastener News

Trifast Profit Drops on Lower Demand

Jason Sandefur

After posting a double-digit gain in profit for fiscal 2008, UK fastener maker Trifast warned that lower demand and postponed orders cut fiscal 2009 profit by GBP 2.6 million (US$4.73 million).

The move comes despite company efforts to ensure more profitable transactions.
“We now have robust systems in place to ensure that new business won by Trifast is at levels of profitability which we consider acceptable,” CEO Steve Auld asserted in June.

Those efforts,however, were not enough to keep margins strong.

Trifast called its trading performance in recent months “extremely disappointing.”

“Demand from customers in the UK and Europe had been lower than anticipated and a number of projects that Trifast was due to supply had been postponed,” writes Ken Hurst of Works Management. “In the Far East there had been a major reduction in the supply of fastener components to one customer in the computer industry, causing an additional impact on margin due to the under-utilized capacity at the company’s Asian production facilities.

“In addition, in European and Asian demand from customers in the automotive industries had slowed.”

Sales activity remains high, the company noted.
But the declining and postponed sales orders experienced to date were unlikely to be recovered in the second half of the year, prompting Trifast to lower expectations for its outcome in fiscal 2009.

For fiscal 2008 Trifast reported revenue dropped 7% to GBP 122.36 million (US$238.9m), while operating profit rose 12% to GBP 7.14 million (US$13.92m).

Trifast manufactures and distributes industrial fasteners and components, with locations in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Web: trfastenings.com �2008 FastenerNews.com