An East Sussex company that specialises in the manufacture and distribution of mechanical fasteners for a wide range of industries says that it is on track to achieve “another record-breaking financial year” following six months of strong trading.

The listed Trifast group (www.trifast.com) recorded revenues of £89.7 million for the six months to 30 September, an increase of almost 15% compared with a year earlier, while its underlying pre-tax profits grew by more than 20% to £9.9 million.

Executive chairman Malcolm Diamond said: “This was another six months of strong trading, putting us firmly on track to achieve another record-breaking financial year.” However, he warned of macro-economic factors that “we cannot fully mitigate, including the on-going volatility in the foreign currency and raw-material markets.”

He added: “We are already starting to see some purchase-price challenges in our UK business from the on-going weakness in sterling, and we expect these pressures to increase over time if that weakness persists.

“However, as an international business with over 70% of our revenues generated outside the UK, we are confident that we have the flexibility and foresight to meet these challenges head on, as and when they arise.”