Business / Companies
Turnall sales and demand rebounds
23 May 2013 at 12:50hrs | Views
Turnall saw a rebound in sales and demand in the month of April and grew sales for that month to bring volume deficit down from the 16% in Q1 to 6% for the year to April 2013, MD John Jere told the AGM this afternoon.
"Our view is that despite the depressed demand patterns of Q1, we foresee a recovery initially for period up to June and thereafter for period up to December 2013," he said.
Jere added that that consumer confidence in the first 3 months of the year was "at an all time low" and thus the firm experienced subdued demand.
"Despite the opening of the tobacco floors early in the year, volumes for 1Q2013 were 16% below same period last year which in our view is a reflection of lower than normal consumer confidence," he said.
Volume sales for the first 4 months to April at 19 448t were down 6% and the turnover at $11.3 mln was 10% below $12.5 mln recorded last year.
GP margins at 20% were below the planned 29% for the first 3 months and this was largely as a result of low capacity utilization levels and this will heavily weigh down on the company's profit levels for the first half.
Jere however, noted that GP margins for April and May were back in the 30% region and operating margins are around 12% thus a reflection that the company has the ability to reverse the negative trends in the coming months.
"Capacity utilization fell and our factories were operating at about 40% capacity in an effort to align factory activity levels with demand patterns", he said.
Giving an update on the Concrete Tile project, Jere indicated that the new "state-of-art" roofing tile factory is nearing completion and there are plans to commission the plant in June.
Commenting on the outlook, Jere said that the company recognizes the many challenges ahead but remain confident that their performance at year end will be 15% ahead of 2012 through factoring in export and local piping business performance.
All the directors were reappointed with directors' fees of $138 402 approved while the auditors KPMG were reappointed and audit fees of $90 099 agreed on.
"Our view is that despite the depressed demand patterns of Q1, we foresee a recovery initially for period up to June and thereafter for period up to December 2013," he said.
Jere added that that consumer confidence in the first 3 months of the year was "at an all time low" and thus the firm experienced subdued demand.
"Despite the opening of the tobacco floors early in the year, volumes for 1Q2013 were 16% below same period last year which in our view is a reflection of lower than normal consumer confidence," he said.
Volume sales for the first 4 months to April at 19 448t were down 6% and the turnover at $11.3 mln was 10% below $12.5 mln recorded last year.
GP margins at 20% were below the planned 29% for the first 3 months and this was largely as a result of low capacity utilization levels and this will heavily weigh down on the company's profit levels for the first half.
Jere however, noted that GP margins for April and May were back in the 30% region and operating margins are around 12% thus a reflection that the company has the ability to reverse the negative trends in the coming months.
"Capacity utilization fell and our factories were operating at about 40% capacity in an effort to align factory activity levels with demand patterns", he said.
Giving an update on the Concrete Tile project, Jere indicated that the new "state-of-art" roofing tile factory is nearing completion and there are plans to commission the plant in June.
Commenting on the outlook, Jere said that the company recognizes the many challenges ahead but remain confident that their performance at year end will be 15% ahead of 2012 through factoring in export and local piping business performance.
All the directors were reappointed with directors' fees of $138 402 approved while the auditors KPMG were reappointed and audit fees of $90 099 agreed on.
Source - zfn
