LONDON (Alliance News) - Portmeirion Group PLC on Thursday expressed confidence for the year ahead after it saw revenue and profit growth ahead of market forecasts in 2018.
The stock was trading 6.0% higher on Thursday morning at 1,060.00 pence a share.
The pottery company said it expects to report at least GBP89.2 million in revenue for 2018, up 5.2% from GBP84.8 million reported for 2017. This is ahead of market expectations and is driven by strong growth across Portmeirion key markets including the UK, US and South Korea. At constant currency, the company's revenue increased 6.8%.
Portmeirion's home fragrance business continued to thrive, the company said, growing by more than 11% year-on-year.
As a result of the growth across the business, Portmeirion said it also expects pretax profit for 2018 to be ahead of market expectations. In 2017, pretax profit totalled GBP8.8 million.
"Our strategy of geographical diversification backed by product development and our portfolio of leading homeware brands continues to drive our business forward strongly," said Non-Executive Chair Dick Steele.
"We will continue to invest in growing our business and look forward with confidence to 2019," added Steele.
Portmeirion expects to announce its 2018 results on March 21.
Portmeirion (PMP)