LONDON (Alliance News) - Personal care and beauty products maker Creightons PLC Friday reported a jump in profits and revenues for the first half of its fiscal year, buoyed by private label range launches.
However, it cautioned that some of the revenue lift from the launches won't be repeated in the second half of the year.
Its pretax profit in the six months to end-September rose to GBP153,000 from GBP38,000 a year earlier as revenues rose to GBP9.7 million, from GBP8.4 million.
Gross margins, however, fell to 40.2%, from 42% as sales fell in North America and some of the product launches yielded lower profits.
"We continue to be cautious regarding the underlying level of retail sales and consider that consumers in the UK will continue to be focused on value. This will present sales opportunities but may impact on margins," it said in a statement.
Creightons shares were up 15.8% at 5.5 pence Friday morning,
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @SteveMcGrath1
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Creightons (CRL)