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(Alliance News) - Portmeirion Group PLC on Wednesday reported an "excellent seasonal trading period", with high demand for its consumer homeware brands globally and strong sell-through across key distribution channels.
Shares in Portmeirion were up 11% at 689.40 pence on Wednesday morning in London.
The Stoke-on-Trent, England-based pottery company said it expects sales to be at least GBP104 million for 2021, 10% above current consensus market expectation forecasts.
This is 18% above 2020 sales of GBP87.9 million and 12% ahead of pre-Covid sales of GBP92.8 million in 2019.
Portmeirion said this represents the highest ever level of sales for the group which it explained were driven by strong progress on its strategy of developing new sales channels, particularly online.
As a result, Portmeirion now expects profit before tax for 2021 of at least GBP7.0 million, an increase of 9% over current consensus market expectations and a multiple of its 2020 pretax figure of GBP1.4 million.
Chief Executive Mike Raybould said: "Although our key seasonal sales period came later than usual due to global supply chain disruption affecting availability of stock, it finished very strongly, particularly in the US market. We are becoming an increasingly digital business and the new capabilities we have built to drop ship online orders continue to drive our business forward and should provide further opportunities for strong growth and improve margins in the future.
"Each of our core markets of the UK, US and South Korea have grown well in 2021. The measures we took to reduce overstocks and protect our brand in South Korea in 2019 to 2020 have enabled a much more robust year, with strong consumer demand and expectations of further sustainable growth in coming years."
Looking forward, Portmeirion said it was "mindful" of ongoing Covid risk and their potential impact on sales markets, global supply chains and the associated cost inflation, particularly in container shipping. Nonetheless, the company said it remained "confident" in its ability to improve margins over the long term.
By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com
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