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[August 2009]
Portmeirion’s Interims – Significance of Spode & Royal Worcester Brand Acquisitions
In announcing its interim results for the half-year, Portmeirion listed highlights as follows:Financial - An excellent performance in a difficult trading environment
- Unchanged interim dividend of 3.55 pence per share
- Revenues of £17.0 million up by 10.9% on comparative period of 2008 (£15.3 million)
- Operating profit before exceptionals of £940,000 up by 85.0% (2008 - £508,000)
- Profit before tax of £532,000 up by 31.0% (2008 - £406,000)
- Earnings per share of 3.50p up by 35.1% (2008 - 2.59p)
- Stock reduced by over 10%
Operational
- Acquisition of Spode and Royal Worcester brands provides great opportunity for growth
- UK revenue grows by 12.9%
- Korean revenue improves by 31.2%
- Acquisition of Spode and Royal Worcester brands enables some ceramic manufacture to return to the UK
Dick Steele, Non-Executive Chairman, commented: "We are pleased with these results. Buying the Spode and Royal Worcester brands is the most significant event at Portmeirion for many years, giving us the opportunity to grow to be a significantly larger company.
Our order books are extremely healthy. We are committed to good design and high quality. We look forward with confidence."
The company said that it announced at the time of the deal that the sales from these brands would amount to £7 million in 2009 and £12 million in 2010 and it remains confident of these projections. The Christmas Tree pattern is Spode's highest volume pattern and due to this it is estimated that some 90% of the additional sales for 2009 will be made in the second half. The Spode Blue Italian and Woodland patterns are already in production at the Portmeirion factory in Stoke-on-Trent (Staffs, England).
The other Spode and Royal Worcester patterns of importance - Christmas Tree, Evesham, Stafford Flowers, Baking Days and Classic White - have been sourced, and shipments commenced, from the company’s high quality supplier base in the Far East.
The company commented: “A great deal of work has been required to manufacture and source the Spode and Royal Worcester patterns. It is a testament to the strength of our technical abilities that so much has been accomplished with these patterns in such a short time. Portmeirion as a back stamp is a guarantee of quality; we will ensure that our high quality standards apply equally to the Spode and Royal Worcester back stamps”.
ENDS