Triumph posts a £12.8 million loss
Last year, Hinckley Triumph was £2.7 million in the red. This year, it's got smoking pockets and a big black hole where almost thirteen million pre-tax quid fell through. The figures are for the year ending 30th June 2013.
▲ 2013 Triumph Bonneville "Dark". We tried to come up with a worse name for a Bonneville model and decided that "Turnip" was probably slightly worse. But Triumph seems to be doing okay without our help, so we're leaving this one well alone.
Sounds pretty dire, but you have to look at it in context. Triumph is busily breaking into manufacturing on the Indian mainland. That's where its new 250cc entry-level "Cub" is to be manufactured giving the firm a solid toe-hold on the Asiatic market dominated by various Chinese brands and Honda, and where huge profits are possible for a blue-chip marque such as Triumph.
Also, forreign currency exchange issues helped dampen profits despite Triumph making a very satisfactory first year sortie into the also potentially lucrative Brazilian market.
However, despite the losses, sales were up from 48,957 units to 52,089. Additionally turnover rose from £342.3m to 368.6m.
So what does it all mean? It means that Triumph Motorcycles is doing alright, and would have been doing much better had it not been (rightly) investing in burgeoning markets.
Meanwhile, we hear that John Bloor, the man who brought Triumph back as a major UK manufacturing force and currently employing 1,600 people, is 11th on the Midlands rich list (if that means anything to you).
Bloor Holdings, the parent of Triumph, and which earns the bulk of its money from building houses, is also doing okay in a tough market. The last time Triumph posted a loss was in 2009.
Buy British. Buy Triumph.
— Big End
Triumph Bonneville:
World's Coolest
Motorcycle T-shirt
Copyright Sump Publishing 2013