Announced today (March 24), the preliminary results for the year ending December 31 2009 show that the company increased its turnover by 11% compared to the same period in 2008 – an increase from £25.4 million to £28.3 million.
I am pleased to say that the many difficult decisions taken late in 2008 proved to be the correct ones and we have a reinvigorated business
Jonathan Straight, chief executive, Straight
Straight indicated in January 2010 that it expected the withdrawal of WRAP from the home composting market on October 1 to help boost it's profits (see letsrecycle.com story).
The preliminary results acknowledge the impact WRAP ending its subsidy for home composting bins has had and states that the outlook for 2010 is positive due to the company having become the sole provider of composting bins under the Improvement and Efficiency South East (IESE)'s new national framework for supplying containers, which was launched on February 1 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The company said that this development “transformed” the performance of the retail business, which saw the balance sheet remain consistent at £1.6 million in 2009, having also been £1.6 million at the end of 2008.
Straight claimed a restructuring of the retail arm of the business to focus on “strategically important products and clients” did lead to a drop in revenues from £2.3 million in 2008 to £1.2 million in 2009, however, it managed to “substantially” cut its operational losses from a £500,000 loss in 2008 to a £94,000 loss in 2009.
Trade
A boost in food container products helped the trade business to grow by 17% from £23.2 million in 2008 to £27.1 million in 2009. Sales of proprietary products grew by £1.8 million, driven by growth in sales of food waste containers, and sales of factored products also grew, by £2.1 million, driven by sales of wheeled bins which were particularly strong in the first half of the year. However, sales of wheeled bins in the second half were lower than in the first half because of difficulties the Group experienced in procuring suitable bins to fulfil ongoing customer demand.
Straight pointed to the purchase of the UK operations of Greek container manufacturer Helesi earlier this month as offering a means of closing the current gap in the Group's range of products (see letsrecycle.com story).
The cut in operational loss, combined with continued growth in the trade arm of the company, meant that Straight could report underlying operating profits of £1.6 million for 2009 compared to £400,000 in 2008. And, this meant that its profit-before-tax for 2009 was £1.6 million compared to £1 million loss incurred at the end of 2008, which was caused by undertaking a series of strategic reviews of the company.
Commenting on the preliminary results, Jonathan Straight, chief executive of Straight, said: “In March 2009, we forecast a successful year. I am pleased to say that the many difficult decisions taken late in 2008 proved to be the correct ones and we have a reinvigorated business.”
“The outlook for 2010 is positive. We had a record order book at the start of the year and a strong pace of order intake has continued since January. We are the leading player in many of our markets and where we do not lead we have the resources and capability to do so in the future.”
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