Trifast issues profit warning, announces CEO departure

Trifast issued a profit warning on Monday as it pointed to significant destocking from one of its Asian manufacturing customers, and announced the resignation of its chief executive.

For the year to the end of March 2023, the company now expects revenues of around £243m and adjusted pre-tax profit of around £9m, versus market expectations of £242m and £14.3m.

Trifast said that since its half-year results in November, it has seen further year-on-year revenue growth, led by the European and North American businesses. It has also secured a further £10m of new contract wins since the end of September.

"During January, we also concluded negotiations with significant customers resulting in contractual pricing uplifts which were in line with our expectations," it said. "However, we have continued to see macro-economic conditions contribute to some volatility in demand patterns, and in particular have, more recently, been impacted by significant destocking from one of our Asian manufacturing customers."

The company also said on Monday that chief executive Mark Belton resigned over the weekend and has left Trifast.

It Scott Mac Meekin will relinquish his non-executive director responsibilities and will assume the role of interim CEO with immediate effect.

At 0910 GMT, the shares were down 45% at 50.88p.