Acquisitions played a key role in securing robust trading at industrial fastener specialist Trifast (TRI), with the performance prompting management to raise its final dividend by a third. Management said the period saw the "strongest trading performance ever" and as such the numbers were ahead of consensus expectations. Italian domestic appliances manufacturer VIC made its first full-year contribution in the 2016 financial year and reported organic revenue growth of 13 per cent. TR Kuhlmann, a German distributor of industrial fastenings, which was acquired in October 2015, is already delivering revenue ahead of expectations and management is excited by the potential this company can bring through exposure to Germany's burgeoning car industry.
While acquisitions made in the past few years contributed more than half the increase in revenue, finance director Clare Foster said the organic performance was "not to be sniffed at". This was particularly strong in Europe, where automobile demand in Sweden and Holland helped drive double-digit organic sales growth. Although in the UK revenue was down, margin improvements boosted underlying operating profit by 6 per cent to £6.2m.
Broker FinnCap has upgraded 2017 forecasts off the back of these results and now expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £16.9m, giving EPS of 10.4p (from £16m and 10p in FY2016).
TRIFAST (TRI) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 137p | MARKET VALUE: | £160m | |
| TOUCH: | 137-139p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 141p | LOW: 104p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2% | PE RATIO: | 16 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 72p* | NET DEBT | 19% | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 113 | 4.8 | 3.5 | 0.5 |
| 2013 | 122 | 6.4 | 4.4 | 0.8 |
| 2014 | 130 | 8.9 | 6.1 | 1.4 |
| 2015 | 155 | 11.8 | 7.4 | 2.1 |
| 2016 | 161 | 13.1 | 8.8 | 2.8 |
| % change | +4 | +11 | +19 | +33 |
Ex-div: 15 Sep Payment: 14 Oct *Includes intangible assets of £38.3m, or 33p a share | ||||
