A company which makes highly specialised hospital-grade disinfectant products which are sold worldwide has seen a big boost in sales as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Although Newmarket-based Tristel saw a dip in demand for its medical instruments disinfectant products as routine operations declined amid the crisis, this was countered by soaring demand for its specialist surface disinfectants, it said as it published its annual results.
Overall, the company saw turnover rise by 21% from £26.2m to £31.7m in the year to June 30, 2020.
Its overseas sales did particularly well, and were up 32% to £19m – representing 60% of total turnover. Pre-tax profits rose by 27% to £7.1m, the firm said.
MORE – Farm machinery maker celebrates new era with launch of new £20m headquartersAmong the year’s highlights was the successful merger of Tristel Italia srl – which it acquired for £0.6m in July 2019 – and the completion of a 23,000sq ft warehouse and office building at its headquarters in Snailwell.
It has also made progress on its ambition to break into the US market and on getting its products into India.
Chief executive Paul Swinney described it as “another very sound performance” in a year turned on its head by the pandemic.
“The impact of which was a reduction of £0.5m in medical device decontamination sales and an increase of £2m in hospital surface disinfectant sales,” he said.
In the first quarter of the new financial year Tristel had seen a gradual recovery in demand for its medical device products in all its markets as hospitals resumed non-covid care, he added.
“Since February, we have acquired a significant number of hospital customers for our surface disinfectant products. We expect this build-up of our hospital surface disinfection business to continue throughout this and future years. It is a key strategic focus of the company,” he said.
All 12 of the firm’s overseas subsidiaries had record years, he said, and international expansion would continue to be a “key growth driver” for the group.
“Together with the contribution of our 35 international distributors, 60% of global revenue was generated outside of the United Kingdom - the highest level ever. Our Malaysian subsidiary started trading in July and we will commence sales in India this year. We have made our first submission for regulatory approval to Health Canada, and we are progressing well with our FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) submission.”
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