Introduction
Trifast has made positive progress against the strategic objectives set last year, despite the challenging market conditions during the 2007/2008 financial year. The main feature of the year has been an improvement in the quality of the Group’s earnings, set against a reduction in sales resulting from customer site closures, planned exits from low margin business and natural attrition.
Our strategy has been to focus on the net profitability by customer which has resulted in, where necessary, tough management decisions being taken not to supply certain customers or market sectors. The impact of these actions has resulted in the operating profit moving to a seven year high of 8.2%. We now have robust systems in place to ensure that new business won by Trifast is at levels of profitability which we consider acceptable.
The investment made in our new business strategy, including seeking business opportunities in new countries, has been another key management focus this year and we expect to begin to see the benefits of these initiatives in future years.
Trifast has invested in excess of £0.5 million on key skills training and development of its staff and has introduced new methods to nurture the talent within our management pool by offering them the appropriate opportunities to fulfil their career path development.
Whilst the current financial year is likely to remain challenging due to the upheavals in the world economy, the steps that we have already taken mean that we are working from a position of confidence in our approach to building for the future. Our focused sales approach for Europe is already showing early signs of success through a marked improvement of the level of quality enquiries, and our world-class, ISO14001 accredited facilities in Asia, continue to provide Trifast with a unique competitive advantage to satisfy the ever increasing demands of our multinational customer base.
Dividend
In line with our confidence in the Group’s prospects, the Board is recommending an increased final dividend of 1.87 pence per ordinary share (2007: 1.66 pence). This, together with the interim dividend of 0.93 pence per share, makes a total for the year of 2.80 pence (2007: 2.43 pence), an increase of 15% over 2006/07.
The final dividend is subject to shareholder approval at the AGM to be held on 23 September 2008 and will be paid on 15 October 2008 to the shareholders on the register as at 27 June 2008.
People
In January we welcomed Bill Wilson as a Non-Executive Director of the Company. Bill has replaced Andrew Cripps who retired as a Non-Executive Director on 31 March 2008. In addition, Steven Tan, an Executive Director of the Company and Managing Director of our Asian operations, retired during the year. The Board would like to thank both Andrew and Steven for their valuable contribution to the Group and service over the years.
Bill Wilson is a Director of the Euronext listed company, Eriks Group NV and has been, since November 2003, Chief Executive Officer of the international engineering and distribution Group WYKO Group Ltd (part of Eriks Group NV) and brings with him a wealth of industry and international experience from which Trifast will benefit over the coming years.
On behalf of the Board, I also welcome all the new members of staff who joined the Group during the year and I would like to thank all of our employees for their hard work, commitment and dedication to the business.
Prospects
We have a number of initiatives in place focusing on the quality of sales, the identification of opportunities in new and existing markets, and capitalising on our existing Asian facilities and established supply chain. We face the future with confidence in spite of the uncertainties created by the world’s financial markets.
Anthony Allen
Chairman
17 June 2008