Thruvision losses widen amid depressed transport markets

Security screening technology company Thruvision reported revenue of £6.7m in its full-year results on Monday, narrowing from £8m year-on-year, with an operating loss before tax of £2.8m, widening from £1.7m.

The AIM-traded firm said its adjusted loss before tax for the 12 months ended 31 March totalled £2.3m, widening from £1.2m a year earlier, including a £0.3m foreign exchange loss, compared to a currency gain of £0.1m in the 2020 financial year.

Its gross margin increased to 48% from 47% year-on-year, which the board put down to “prudent cost control”, with overheads flat at £5.3m.

An increasing focus on the profit protection sector saw that business grow 49%, the company said, with 16 new customers covering third-party logistics providers.

Sales into the customs, aviation and surface transport sectors were “significantly” impacted by Covid-19-related lockdowns and travel restrictions, most notably in the Asia geography.

Cash at year-end on 31 March totalled £7.3m, down from £8.4m a year earlier.

“As with many others, the pandemic presented us with a number of challenges but our presence in multiple markets, combined with the flexibility of colleagues and suppliers, gave us good levels of resilience,” said chief executive officer Colin Evans.

“We saw demand from our profit protection sector strengthen as lock-down restrictions started easing in the spring and we believe this continuing shift to online retail will sustain our strong growth in this sector.”

Evans said the scale of opportunity in both the customs and aviation sectors remained “undiminished”, but added that Thruvision expected each of them to recover at different rates over the coming months.

“With differentiated products, a very competitive market position and a strong cash balance, we expect to return to growth this year and remain confident in our strategy, market drivers and long-term opportunities.”

At 1100 BST, shares in Thruvision Group were flat at 25p.