LONDON (Alliance News) - Bagir Group Ltd on Thursday reported a widened annual loss on a "challenging" market environment, but saw a rise in revenue.
Shares in the tailoring firm were up 23% in mid-morning trading at 1.48 pence each.
In 2018, Bagir's pretax loss widened to USD5.8 million from USD2.9 million in 2017. The company's revenue increased 10% in 2018 to USD56.4 million from USD51.1 million the year before.
Bagir booked a one-off expense of USD1.1 million in 2018, contributing to the widened loss, with the majority being spent on the company's "cost reduction and efficiency" program.
Bagir attributed the revenue jump on new customer wins and increased purchase orders from existing customers.
The company said its trading in 2018 reflected a "challenging" market environment, where it was able to achieve "good" topline growth but saw its loss widen on "transitional costs" in the first half. The costs came from expanding its production lines in Ethiopia and moving to "more competitive" costing manufacturing programs in Vietnam and Egypt.
Bagir said its 2018 was a "strategically important" year, making "significant" progress in rationalising its operations. The company expects its trading conditions to be similar in 2019 to what it experienced in 2018 but is better placed due to its operational cost base reduction.
"We have begun this year well with sales of USD16.3 million already recorded for the first 3 months, a 46% increase compared to the prior year. This, together with the benefits coming through from the cost reductions made last year and the USD30.6 million backlog of orders, means the company is well placed for 2019," said Chief Executive Eran Itzhak.
