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[April 2001]
Waterford Wedgwood AGM Statement and Trading Update
At the AGM of Waterford Wedgwood PLC, held on 25 April 2001 and chaired by Sir Anthony O'Reilly, the following comments were made:
2000 was the best year ever in Waterford Wedgwood's history - the year in which we became a 1 billion euro business. We achieved record sales, record profits, record earnings per share - all of which have doubled over the past four years. Indeed, we have delivered average annual compound growth of 15% in sales, 27% in operating profits and 30% in earnings per share over the past eight years.
In 2000, we also acquired the Hutschenreuther brand in Germany to complement our growing Rosenthal business and it was the first full year of ownership of All-Clad, which achieved a tremendous increase in sales of 41%. Both All-Clad and Hutschenreuther have exceeded our originally anticipated benefits.
Our brand extension programme has now surpassed 100 million euros in sales. The Waterford and Wedgwood brands now mean much more than just crystal and ceramics. Today, with these brands, we have meaningful business positions in cutlery, jewellery, gourmet foods, linens and soft furnishings, writing instruments and collectable items. We were able to create these brand extensions because of the outstanding power of our great brands.
Our goal is, once again, to double the size of the business over the next five years and to continue to consolidate our position as one of the world's leading luxury lifestyle businesses.
We will continue to acquire luxury brands that match our existing brands in reputation and quality. We remain committed to a path of aggressive but careful growth through acquisition. We will grow our existing businesses organically through new product introductions, new partnerships with the world's top designers and continued brand extensions into exciting new categories. We will also drive growth from continuous improvement and internal efficiencies. We are determined to raise our Group's margins, drive down inventories relative to sales, and continue to improve and expand our marketing strategies.
Waterford Wedgwood's strength is based on the most important assets any company can possess at this time in history: great brands. Despite the uncertainties of the present economic climate, we have started this year well, with sales up 8% over the last year. We are extremely confident in our objective to achieve dramatic, profitable growth over the next five years.
ENDS