The company, which also reported a profit of £1.5m on sales of £75m in July after two years of losses, had seen its timber income, historically the core of its business, slip to 45% of sales to panel products’ 55%.
“We’re fully focused on growing our panels business too of course,” said Mr Rivers. “But timber had slipped and as part of the process of turning Timbmet around, we decided we had to rediscover our roots and what really made the business tick. And at heart we are a hardwood business.”
“This year we expect a 50/50 split, and next, while both will grow, we anticipate sales at 45% panels and 55% timber,” said Mr Cox. “And we’ve just published a new 90-page timber brochure.”
Among the company’s fastest growing timber lines is its FSC-certified Red Grandis eucalyptus, driven by “rising demand for certified material”.
“We’re also seeing growth in our overseas business, notably the Middle East,” said Mr Rivers. “We had very positive enquiries at the Dubai Wood Show and we’re getting a lot of interest in Accoya especially, for which we’re agents in the region.”
Timbmet last year secured a new £20m funding facility from Lloyds and it is now investing, with 12 trucks added to its fleet, and new spending at its Glasgow further processing mill.
“We were also under utilising Glasgow and outsourcing too much manufacturing,” said Mr Cox. “So we’ve increased overtime and are now at 120% capacity and heading towards another shift.”
More investment is scheduled next 2015, with company’s aim in the next few years, said Mr Rivers, to return to its previous £110m peak turnover, “and beyond” .
