Triumph back in the black

25th December 2015

2014/2015 | Profits | John Bloor | Nick Bloor

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Between June 2014 and June 2015, Triumph Motorcycles moved from an £8 million loss into a £2.3 million surplus. However, for the second year in succession, revenue fell (from £364.4 million to £341.3 million). Bike sales were also down slightly from 54,432 to 53,812 machines.

Need some accounting simplespeak? Okay, last year the firm sold fewer bikes, brought home less bacon, but turned an £8 million loss into a £2.3 million profit. How? By cost-cutting exercises, sophisticated (but no doubt entirely legal) accounting, product rationalisation, disposal of assets, improved foreign exchange trading, cheaper energy bills and lower raw material costs, etc.

So how did it fall into debt? Triumph reckons it's down to foreign exchange trading issues (and you need a forensic accountant to get to the bottom of that). But the company has also been investing heavily in new model ranges, and has apparently scrapped one or two concepts. Triumph has also ploughed a lot of dosh into export markets notably India and Brazil.

The business current employs 2,300 people worldwide, of which 500 (approx) are based at Hinckley. We're advised that 250 of those employees are development engineers. Triumph has two factories in the UK, three in Chonburi, Thailand and one in Manaus, Brazil. The firm is still a privately owned company, and it's currently headed by Nick Bloor (John Bloor's son).

And it's British. So you might want to consider that when spending your motorcycle sterling.

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