Trifast (LSE:TRI), the international specialist in engineered fastenings, reported a 9.4% rise in underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to £16.3m for the full year ended 31 March, as margin expansion more than offset a deliberate pullback in lower-quality revenue.
Revenue fell 7.3% to £207.1m at constant exchange rates (FY25: £223.5m), a decline the company had anticipated and partly engineered through a shift toward higher-value customers and verticals.
Gross margin widened to 30.0% from 28.3%, with EBIT margin advancing to 7.8% from 6.7%, keeping the company on track toward its medium-term target of more than 10%.
Underlying pre-tax profit rose to £12.3m from £10.4m, though reported profit before tax fell sharply to £0.1m from £4.9m, largely due to £6m of Project Ignite ERP implementation costs expensed in the year under cloud-based accounting rules.
Adjusted net debt fell to £16m from £17.4m, with leverage dropping to 0.75 times from 0.97 times.
North America grew in the period, driven by Smart Infrastructure and Medical, while Europe and the UK protected profitability on lower volumes; India is described as scaling rapidly with strong momentum into FY27.
"The path to a 10%+ EBIT margin remains clear and we are on track to deliver it," said chief executive Iain Percival, noting the commercial pipeline is the strongest since the current strategy was implemented.
