What have been the highlights of 2022 for Trigano?

In direct continuation with 2021, the level of demand for leisure vehicles remained high. New clients, who were attracted by the “safety bubble effect” in the context of the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic, continued to show an interest in leisure vehicles in the less restrictive post-pandemic world. This high level of demand allowed us to very quickly take orders at Trigano from the start of the independent trade fair season in which our group brands actively participated to come face to face with our traditional client base, as well as new clients discovering our products.

In parallel, and after a 2021 financial year in which supplies were difficult due to industrial closures at the peak of the Covid pandemic, 2022 was affected by two significant events: inflation and chassis shortages. The former was a new phenomenon for the vast majority of people from my generation who, for the last three decades, have experienced stable pricing. Indeed, whilst we have all experienced cycles over raw materials or certain types of products, coming face to face with widespread inflation required a new sort of response, and very quickly. The latter is due to the semi-conductor shortage which massively affected the automobile industry throughout 2022 which is not totally resolved. The difficulties in supplying chassis, which is a fundamental element in the construction of leisure vehicles, had a clear and direct impact affecting Trigano productions and carried an unexpected and repeated impact on our industrial tool.

The combination of strong demand coupled with the shortage of chassis prevented Trigano from delivering its entire portfolio of products over 2022. A portion of these products had to be delayed to 2023 and is currently delivered or in the process of being delivered.
In this particularly complex context, Trigano managed to maintain good profit margins and reduce the impact of “stop & go” affecting the industrial plant. All of the Trigano teams actively contributed towards this result thanks to their flexibility and I would like to thank them.

In practice, how did you manage to protect profit margins with reduced business activities?

Trigano is a major European company. We like to consider ourselves as multi-local, meaning we are always the local player at each stage. Whilst it is true our holding company is in Paris, our subsidiary teams are closer to the field whether in Italy, Slovenia, Germany, the UK, Spain and all of the many other countries where Trigano is located. Consequently, our organisation is independent in implementing policies defined by the Management Board with a competent management strategy, focused on achieving actions and results. The combination of short decision making and effective local application make strategic decisions by Trigano quickly operational and afford the group strong adaptability and immediate responsiveness to market developments.

To guarantee solid profit margins despite inflation and reduced business activities, Trigano worked quickly to best hedge these risks. In particular, concerning the appearance of inflation which our teams were not used to dealing with, we took a host of initiatives upstream aimed at controlling and forecasting the developments in purchasing costs. These allowed us to implement clearly-defined mechanisms with our clients to help protect our profit margins. In the same manner, thanks to the flexibility of our teams, the industrial plant was able to quickly adapt to fluctuations which were so difficult to predict regarding the arrival of chassis on our production sites. In this contact, the level of rolling fund requirements, although in line with the pre-Covid period, grew tighter than in the previous FY. This point led to action plans being implemented across Trigano subsidiaries to implement reduced stock levels. The heavy involvement of teams also allows us to offset the unavoidable drop in productivity caused by the wider context to a reasonable level.

How do things look for 2023 and the longer term?

The leisure vehicles sector is reaping the rewards of the medium- to long-term trends with the demographic growth of its client based comprising young seniors still in employment as well as the extended life expectancy and good health of our clients. Consequently, the popularity of the lifestyle offered by leisure vehicles, offering freedom (to go where one chooses), savings (not to spend more than at home) and ecology (limiting energy and water usage) is increasingly attractive to these clients. The start of 2023 will only consolidated this trend further. The large national trade fairs at the start of the 2023 season in Germany, Italy, France and the UK have seen record visitor numbers.
Since February 2022, Trigano has had the largest leisure vehicle distribution network in Europe with over 65 retail outlets in France, the UK and Spain. This development making Trigano the first integrated stakeholder in the distribution of leisure vehicles has enabled the development of significant commercial synergies. Similarly, access to end clients is an important additional assert to guarantee the future development of Trigano.
Trigano is launching into new markets. Since 2021, the company has expanded its product range into the vans sector. These are more compact vehicles, often likened to large family vehicles and with “pop-up” removable roofs. This sector is characterised by a client base which is primarily younger and more active than those of the traditional motorhomes sector in which Trigano operates. To develop these activities, Trigano launched a European brand, Panama, which is produced on a dedicated site with a total installed capacity of 4,000 units per year.

The Trigano teams have not rested on their laurels with the current results, we have identified a number of working areas to ensure the future development of our company and action plans are currently being drafted to guarantee the success of our products in the coming years ahead.