Haynes sees 16% revenue rise

Revenue at car manual publisher Haynes was up 16% to £29.8m in the last financial year, boosted by “strong revenue growth” from professional product ranges in mainland Europe and a strong first six months of trading from non-automotive titles in the UK.

For the 12 months ended 31st May 2017, group revenue rose 16% to £29.8m up from £25.7m in the same period a year prior. With a large proportion of the group's operations located in Europe and the US, Haynes has benefitted from a weaker sterling against the euro and US dollar during the year, the company said. Overall, the impact of the currency movements has increased group revenue by £3.1m and profit before tax by £0.6m. The benefit from exchange rate movements helped to offset “softer” US revenue which, in local currency, ended the year down 20%, according to the annual financial results.

Last year, the company underwent an operational and cost restructuring programme which saw it close its US and Swedish bases and axe 41 jobs - 17% of its workforce - due to falling demand for print manuals. With the cost savings achieved through this restructure, coupled with favourable exchange rates, the higher revenue helped to increase profit before tax and exceptional items by 37% to £2.6m, up from £1.9m in 2016.

This is the first set of results to include OATS, a database for the lubricants sector of the oil industry recently acquired by Haynes, which added £1m of revenue for the five months since the acquisition.

Total revenue from Haynes’ digital product ranges increased to £11.9m from £7.9m the previous year, and now represents 40% of total group revenue, up from 31% in 2016.

A spokesperson for the company said: “The group has had strong underlying revenue and profit growth this year. The company is increasingly becoming a digital content business and 40% of revenues are now digital. The company has made a major acquisition this year with OATS, a global lubricants database office, which further strengthens its digital portfolio.”

Eddie Bell, Haynes' chairman, added that the group has delivered a "strong set of results" during "this period of transformation".

For the first time in many years, Haynes has set an internal budget showing revenue and profit growth and been able to deliver on both targets", Bell said. "I am confident that the operational, financial and cultural turnaround of the group is progressing to plan and I thank the board and the Executive Management Team for their efforts in making this possible."