Triumph sales start to pick up
YEAR SAW THE BRAND MAKE PRE-TAX LOSS
BIG DROP LAST
TRIUMPH Motorcycles reported a 17 per cent drop in sales due to the pandemic and pre-tax losses of £40 million.
The Hinckley bike-maker said the global lockdown had a huge impact on its revenues for the year to July.
The total number of bikes it sold went from just over 61,000 in 2019/20 to fewer than 51,000.
Turnover was down £50 million to about £480 million and the £40 million pre-tax loss compared with a £9.5 million profit a year earlier.
In a statement, the business said: “Encouragingly, the new financial year has already seen sales volumes return and, indeed, surpass preCovid levels to indicate a return to profitability.
“Interest in the recently revealed Trident 660 model will enable Triumph to compete in the middleweight segment of the global market, where the combination of triple engine performance along with dynamic handling and class-leading technology establishes a new benchmark within the segment.
“Triumph has performed strongly over the past few years against a backdrop of challenging economic, currency and motorcycle market conditions, but the impact of the pandemic meant it took the difficult decision in May to restructure the business to create a leaner organisation better placed future.”
Triumph, which is based in Hinckley, had warned it might be hard to bounce back from the predicted global recession, post-virus, as it announced 240 UK job losses.
Management said its bikes sales never fully recovered from the credit crunch a decade ago as people held off on expensive “discretionary purchases” to thrive in the – and there were fears of a similar trend.
Globally, the business announced it was laying off 400 of its 2,500 workforce. Even before the pandemic it was making big changes to production, making Thailand its main centre of manufacturing.
It said it was “realigning” operations as part of its global ambitions to double its share of the Asian market over three years – on top of a non-equity partnership with Indian manufacturer Bajaj.
Hinckley will still make its prototype and bespoke models and will still become its global centre of research and development.
Since the pandemic, the business has unveiled new designs including the latest version of its Tiger adventure bike and the new Trident 660.