Company Profile
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BUSINESS OVERVIEW
Avon Rubber p.l.c. is an innovative engineering group focused on exceeding customer expectations through the development and manufacture of technologically superior products in the Protection & Defence and Dairy sectors. The Group operates from sites in Michigan, Wisconsin, Mississippi, California, Georgia and Baltimore in the USA and Wiltshire in the UK, serving markets around the world.
Protection & Defence
This business consists of a growing range of respiratory protection products. The main Protection products are respirators or gas masks (product names include S10, FM12, M50, C50 and M53); the CE approved emergency hood (EH20) and self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) (primarily the Viking product range). The respirators and escape hoods offer breathing protection to varying degrees against nuclear, chemical, radiological and biological threats while the SCBA equipment offers protection in oxygen depleted environments. We also manufacture consumable filters used by these products and thermal imaging camera equipment. Earlier in the year the product range was improved with the launch of the enhanced Viking Z Seven SCBA which was introduced to meet new National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) standards in the USA. Significant progress has also been made towards the approval of the emergency hood to USA National Institute Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) standards. A new escape hood is being developed for the Federal Government and a pipeline of further new product developments is being established.
Our respiratory protection products are sold direct to military markets where our primary customers are the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) as well as a number of approved friendly governments globally. Other significant markets are categorised under the Homeland Defense banner which includes the Police and other emergency services and are sold either directly or through distribution channels. The SCBA and thermal imaging equipment is focused on Fire services and other industrial users primarily through a distribution network in the US. All these products are safety critical and the markets are consequently highly regulated with the approval standards creating significant entry barriers. The product life cycles are long and standardisation to a particular product by users is the norm.
Dairy
Our Dairy business manufactures and sells products used in the automated milking process, primarily rubberware such as liners and tubing. These products can be in direct contact with the cow and are replaced regularly to ensure product hygiene, animal welfare and to maximize performance. The global market is concentrated in high consumption automated markets in North America and Western Europe where we have significant market shares. Potential exists outside our traditional markets in particular in China which is experiencing rapidly increasing demand for dairy products and in mechanised milking. Our products are manufactured for major Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) as well as being sold through distributors under our own Milk-Rite brand. We excel in product design, materials specification and manufacturing efficiency.
OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES
The Group is committed to generating shareholder value through developing products and serving markets which can deliver long term sustainable revenues at higher than average margins.
The strategy to achieve this is to expand our Protection & Defence business, and to sustain and develop our strong Dairy operations.
Protection & Defence
We have a world leading range of military respirators, developed over a number of years and funded partially by our customers, where we own the intellectual property. Our strategy is to build on this strong position in the military market, initially through our longterm contract to supply the US military, and subsequently through sales and further long-term contracts to other friendly forces. We believe that our existing product range and customer base, together with our credibility and development expertise, will put us in prime position to supply into all accessible global markets.
We are simultaneously targeting homeland security markets with non-military versions of these products. Our SCBA products have the potential for greater integration with our other respiratory protection products as has been demonstrated with the ST53 product recently launched.
We aim to increase our range of product offerings, widen our routes to market and aggressively pursue further product approvals and certifications in new markets. These will be primarily through organic growth in the short term.
Dairy
Our aim is to maintain our market leading position in the US while growing our European business through our own brand Milk-Rite products. We are also examining opportunities in developing markets which have the potential to deliver growth in the longer term. Innovative new product offerings and continued world class low cost manufacturing excellence enable this business to sustain a consistent record of profitability and cash generation.