WGB.L Regulatory News (WGB)

30 Nov 2009 07:00



RNS Reach

WALKER GREENBANK PLC

("Walker Greenbank" or "the Company")

Sanderson and Harlequin win Prestigious Trophies

Walker Greenbank PLC (AIM: WGB), the luxury interior furnishings group whose brands include Sanderson, Morris & Co., Harlequin and Zoffany, is pleased to announce that Harlequin and Sanderson have both won prestigious prizes in House Beautiful magazine's Awards 2009, which celebrate the very best in home furnishings and products.

Harlequin and Sanderson dominated the Fabric Range of the Year category in the awards. Sanderson won the silver trophy for its Options 10 collection of printed fabrics and wallpapers while Harlequin won the gold trophy for its ethnically inspired Iznik collection.

These accolades underline the strength and popularity of the Harlequin and Sanderson brands. Both brands have leading positions in the UK interior design marketplace as a result of Walker Greenbank's focus on design excellence and continued investment in new product launches.

The Sanderson award comes in the run-up to the 150th anniversary of Sanderson, which has created innovative fabrics and wallcoverings since 1860. The 150th anniversary will be celebrated by a programme of events including a recently launched design competition in partnership with Homes & Gardens magazine.

The competition gives the magazine's readers the opportunity to design a living room scheme that "represents the essence of Sanderson's quintessentially English style for the 21st century interior". The overall winner will have their scheme created at Very Sanderson: 150 Years of Interior Decoration, an exhibition to be held at London's Fashion and Textile Museum from 18 March to 13 June 2010.

Further details of the competition are available at Sanderson's website: http://www.sanderson-uk.com/images/design%20a%20room.pdf.

John Sach, Walker Greenbank's Chief Executive, said: "It is a great honour to win these two trophies in the House Beautiful Awards 2009 for our Harlequin and Sanderson brands. It is particularly satisfying that our commitment to design excellence, new product launches and customer service should be recognised in this way. 

"I'm pleased to say that these awards are also reflected in trading at Walker Greenbank. As we said in our interim results, a positive sales trend is emerging, which is underpinned by the Harlequin and Sanderson brands. For example we highlighted that Arkona, a contemporary range of wallpapers and fabrics launched last autumn, has become the best-selling Harlequin collection in the past five years."

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