Titan grows revenues to £253m
A refocus on mining as a key industry has boosted Titan Europe's revenue to £253.1m in the first half its financial year, the company said this morning. The Worcestershire-based manufacturer said sales had grown 51.7 per cent compared with the same period in 2010.
The company made an £11.5m profit over the six-months to 30 June 2011, which allowed it to return to the black after reporting a loss of £2.1m in the comparable 2010 period.
Titan attributed its growing turnover to a refocus on mining which it committed to earlier this year, as well as an introduction of specific product types "to differentiate the business".
Trading profit stood at £18m, up from £3.5m in 2010.
Titan said it was "acutely aware" that its strong revenue forecast has "obvious implications for both working capital and capital investment".
The company said to match its growth needs, it agreed with to reorganise its current bank facility, so that repayments on its €110m term loan will be reduced from €22m per year to €11m per year for 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Repayments for 2014 and 2015 will be €29.5m per year. The €11m instalment for 2011 has already been paid in the first half of this year. The balance of €18m is payable on 31 October 2015 subject to an option to extend the repayment date by a further 12 months. Residual debt is now €99m, said Titan.
Mike Akers, company chief executive, said: "Looking into 2012, at this stage we anticipate a 'stable' year with modest underlying growth, rather than another dramatic 'surge' in volumes.
"This backdrop will give us the opportunity to work on further margin enhancement, working capital reduction and to concentrate on our recent developments including China and Brazil where significant growth is still forecast, and on new projects including the continued development of our mining-related undercarriage range, and mining services generally which we anticipate will provide further growth impetus."
