Tomkins 2007 results

has released its 2007 preliminary results revealing drops of £191.9m in sales and £31.1m operating profits, while overall profit before tax rose £17.9m.

The operating margin for the period was nine per cent, down from 9.4 per cent in 2006, and operating cash flow rose £1.8m to £220m. During the last year net debt was £296.8m, £106.2m less than 2006, and the company completed the disposal of Lasco Fittings, Trico Wiper Systems and Dearborn Mid-West.

‘I am encouraged that our moves to diversify our end markets enabled us to maintain a strong operating margin in 2007 and generate good operating cash flow,’ said James Nicol, chief executive officer. ‘We have expanded our businesses in the developing regions of the world, such as Asia and Eastern Europe, and our global industrial and automotive aftermarket businesses generated good top line growth.

‘On the automotive original equipment side we have expanded in Asia through contract wins with Chery, Hyundai, Nissan and Tata. In the commercial construction area, we have made two bolt-on acquisitions in India to capitalise on the infrastructure build in this region and the Middle East. We have also completed the disposal of three non-core businesses in 2007, further improving the quality of our portfolio of businesses.

‘We are accelerating our performance improvement initiatives and they will help us to significantly improve our cost base over a three-year period. In addition, the group is focused on driving growth through expansion in emerging markets and through product development.’