LONDON (Alliance News) - Tex Holdings PLC, which manufactures and supplies engineering products, plastics, boards and panels, on Monday said it has put in place a borrowing facility to "steer" through "any stormy waters" ahead, amid warnings by UK Chancellor George Osborne that a vote to leave the EU could lead to rough times ahead.
In a statement, Tex said it has signed up a term loan, repayable over five years, of GBP2.0 million, and short-term facilities of GBP2.5 million to cover "any possible increase in trade".
"In the event of a Brexit we are warned by our Chancellor of rough times ahead. We have put in place a borrowing facility to steer us through any stormy waters to come," Chairman Anthony Burrows told shareholders at the company's annual meeting.
The UK is due to vote on whether to remain a member of the EU or leave in a referendum scheduled for Thursday this week.
Burrows said that Tex has made progress with its pension fund. "The deficit has reduced by GBP1.1 million our investments have performed in line with the market or better, but the method of valuing pension fund deficits has improved our position somewhat," he said.
"As a group we have a responsibility to our employees, our pensioners and, of course, our shareholders. We work hard to make sure our pensioners receive their well-earned pensions, we receive great support from our employees and we appreciate their hard work at the same time we do our best to maximize our earnings for shareholders," Burrows said.
Burrows said the company's engineering business continues to grow its sales, its QK Honeycomb Products is trading ahead of budget, Eurotex has suffered from "some long lead times" on its conversion from enquiries to orders, BSP "has suffered from a lack of orders" in the world of civil engineering, and "we have received strong results from Plastics at Barnstaple, but we have struggled to obtain good results at Derby".
"I am pleased to report that our management at Derby have managed to improve our results however Barnstaple is being pressurized on margins, lower volume and some machine breakdowns. We are improving this with further investment, but must be prepared for further costs over the next few years and with customers demanding cost reductions," Burrows said.
Shares in Tex were up 4.7% at 117.82 pence Monday.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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