Design Group Share News (IGR)

(Adds CEO comment, detail.) By Hannah Benjamin Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Gift wrap and cards designer and manufacturer International Greetings PLC (IGR.LN) Wednesday swung to a small full-year pretax profit, adding while market conditions remain tough it plans to continue driving growth by tapping in to new markets. The company's main markets are the U.K., Europe and U.S., but it is expanding its business in Australia and Asia and plans a push in to South America. "It's very important that we have good local knowledge of the markets we go in to. We need to develop a good understanding of a market so we know what we're dealing with," Chief Executive Paul Fineman told Dow Jones Newswires. As well as targeting new markets, the company expects to boost profit through cost savings. It has started archiving all of its intellectual property and designs, as until now its designers in different regions were making similar designs. It is also scaling the logistics side of its business in Europe and bringing different operations under one roof in order to drive economies of scale. While this could lead to some job losses, Fineman said it wouldn't be a significant number. International Greetings made a GBP525,000 pretax profit in the year to March 31, compared with a GBP22.8 million loss a year earlier. The move in to the black was prompted by fewer costs, as last year it impaired GBP5.3 million of property, plant and equipment after closing a business, and wrote off GBP3.1 million of inventory and debtors following the administration of a number of U.K. high street retailers. It swung to a fiscal 2010 GBP3.6 million operating profit from a GBP17.5 million operating loss a year earlier. This offset an 8% fall in revenue from continuing operations to GBP200 million. The company's house broker Arden Partners expects the group to make sales of GBP210 million this year. "We've got very sustainable sales in an area in which consumers are still buying," Fineman said. The firm's Toy Story 3 branded products, like its branded gift wrap, are likely to be a big sales success this year, once the film hits U.K. cinemas next week. International Greetings also plans to increase margins by developing and selling more of its own-design products. "The margins vary per category but overall we can expect to increase margins by about 2% to 3% on our own products over bought brands," Fineman said. While the company may now be eyeing sustained growth, it decided not to pay a fiscal 2010 dividend, instead opting to review its dividend policy once it is satisfied there is a consistent upward trend in profit and it has narrowed its debt. -By Hannah Benjamin, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9298; hannah.benjamin@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 14, 2010 09:42 ET (13:42 GMT)