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[August 2008]
Portmeirion Group Interim Results Announced
Portmeirion Group PLC has announced its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2008. Highlights are:Financial – Good overall revenue growth in difficult markets
- Unchanged interim dividend of 3.55 pence per share
- Revenues of £15.3 million up 5.6% on comparative period of 2007 (£14.5 million)
- Operating profit before exceptionals of £508,000 (2007 - £838,000)
- Balance sheet remains strong
Operational – Continued investment in product design and development
- UK revenue growth of 13.1% assisted by 25.7% growth from Pimpernel
- Success of new products continues
- US revenue declines by 9.1%
- Canadian revenue grown by 51.7%
Dick Steele, Non Executive Chairman, commented: "Total revenue growth of 5.6% is creditable given the prevailing economic conditions and a tough US market which in the past has acted as a leading indicator for world markets in our sector. We continue to improve our manufacturing capabilities against the backdrop of rising energy costs.
“Product development is key to our future growth worldwide; our new product pipeline remains strong. As presaged at our AGM, the weighting of the Group's profits is shifting towards the second half of the year as we incur costs now to achieve sales in the future. We have held the interim dividend at the same level as last year. We remain confident about the long term, but, as we stated in our trading update yesterday, we are cautious for the short term. Accordingly, we believe that the Group's performance for the year ending 31 December 2008 is likely to be below management's expectations.”
ENDS