Pre-tax profits at fuel-pump and forecourt electronic equipment manufacturer Tokheim almost quadrupled last year.
The company which operates a major manufacturing facility at Dundee’s West Pitkerro industrial estate and supplies major multinationals such as Shell, BP, Total and Esso saw sales climb 28% in the financial year ended April 30, from £64.1 million in 2011 to £81.8m.
But newly published accounts show an even more impressive surge in Tokheim UK’s pre-tax profits, which leapt to £3.46m last year almost exactly four times the £868,000 it made during the previous 12-month period.
Much of the uplift was due to strong sales of its fuel-dispenser systems up 29% on the year from £57.1m to £73.6m with particularly good sales growth in central and eastern Europe, Germany, the Middle East and Africa, as well as in the UK marketplace.
The company’s service revenue, which has access to more than 40,000 petrol stations across the world, was also modestly up on the year following higher demand for non-contract works.
Operating profit came in at £3.7m, up from £0.6m, although research and development spend for the year dipped slightly from £5.3m to £5.2m.
Tokheim globally is headquartered in Paris, but the company told The Courier in October that its Dundee manufacturing facility remains a cornerstone of its operations.
The facility was established in 1995 and employs 290 full-time staff and up to 100 temporary workers.
It has the capability to design and manufacture fuel systems equipment, and the 15,000 petrol and diesel pumps it produces each year are exported to 90 countries.
The plant was also an early adopter of the Japanese kaizen continual improvement process, which the company yesterday said had helped to improve its overall results.
“For the last seven years the manufacturing operation has focused on lean manufacturing developments to bring very significant improvements to quality, service and cost,” director Thierry Dervieux said in the company’s latest set of accounts.
“Big advances have been made in on-time delivery, arrival quality, direct labour productivity and reduced material costs.
“Sales and services continued to develop the market for ‘Fuelpos’ during the year. This is a point-of-sales system with high levels of functionality.
“This broadens the division’s product range and will allow us to offer our customer base an integrated service. In addition we can now offer a tank gauge maintenance service which is proving increasing popular.”
business@thecourier.co.uk