The family firm behind Triumph Motorcycles and Bloor Homes saw a big drop in turnover and profits last year on the back of “unprecedented levels of business challenge” and a slowdown in house building during the first lockdown.
Bloor Investments said turnover in the year to last June 30 was down almost £140 million to £1.56 billion. Pre-tax profits were down from £192 million to £122 million.
The group said it gave almost £3.7 million to charity during the year, £962,000 to the Conservative Party and £59,000 to the TaxPayers’ Alliance which campaigns for “lower taxes, government transparency and an end to wasteful government spending”.
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The business said Bloor Homes, based in Measham on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border, saw house completions drop slightly from 3,760 the previous year to 3,548, due to the initial lockdown.
Margins were stable while the average sales price dropped from £296,000 to £290,000, due to a difference in the kind of homes being sold.
In its annual report the business, founded by John Bloor, said the housing market had generally been strong due to the variety of mortgages available and good loan to value ratios.
The government’s National Planning Policy Framework, it said, was also increasing the supply of residential land in the market.
It said: “For the foreseeable future the landscape for the 海角视频 housing market will remain uncertain, in terms of both demand and values.
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“Government stimulus in the form of the stamp duty holiday is welcome, but at present is limited in duration.”
It said ending the stamp duty holiday, coupled with changes to Help to Buy – recently pushed back from March to May – added to the uncertainty.
Triumph Motorcycles, meanwhile, made a loss of £40 million due to a big drop in sales during its peak spring trading period when much of the world went into shutdown.
The bike builder, which has moved mass production to the Far East, said it invested £46 million in R&D last year having made its Hinckley factory its global design base.
The results showed the number of bikes sold was down from 60,000 to 54,400, and turnover dropped from £530 million to £480 million.
However, Triumph chief commercial officer Paul Stroud recently told BusinessLive global sales got back to pre-Covid levels in the second half of 2020.
He said the business had completed a redundancy round announced during lockdown which had taken the global workforce from around 2,500 to 1,800.
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And he said a tie-in with India’s biggest motorbike exporter Bajaj Group to create a range of cheaper bikes starting at around £2,000, was still on track.
During the year the total number of bikes being sold abroad was up slightly and nearly 88 per cent.
The annual report said: “Triumph Group has performed strongly over the last few years against a backdrop of challenging economic, currency and motorcycle market conditions.
“This year we have faced unprecedented levels of business challenge, resulting in a significant decrease in sales during our peak selling period from March through to May 2020, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The group continues to expand its geographic footprint and drive investment and development in its dealership and distributor network.
“The Triumph vision is to continue to be an authentic premium brand, focussed on excelling in the classic icon, adventure and urban bike segments and selling into the right geography, satisfying our inherent customer loyalty.”
The first bikes to be produced under the Bajaj partnership – rumoured to be a lower capacity 200cc model – should arrive on the global market in 2023, giving Triumph a new entry point to high-volume emerging markets not just across Asia, but the rest of the world as well – including Britain.