Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Last April’s acquisition of Royal Worcester & Spode has helped Portmeirion Group turn in a spectacular set of annual results, the company announced today.
The year to December 31 2009 saw the group increase pre-tax profit by an extraordinary 236% to £3.7m, while revenues rose 36% to £43.2m – the highest revenue figure ever reported by Portmeirion.
The company said that the purchase of the Spode and Royal Worcester patterns had been highly successful, and that they now accounted for 20% of sales, worth £8.5m.
Dick Steele, the company’s non-executive chairman, said the results “prove the resilience of Portmeirion in tough times. The acquisition made in April last year has transformed the prospects of the group and added £1.5m in revenue over and above the £7m we predicted. The potential of the Spode and Royal Worcester brands is huge, and we are especially delighted to be able to produce Blue Italian once again in the UK.”
The Botanic Garden pattern continues to dominate Portmeirion Group sales at 40% (2008: 53%) of revenues, with Sophie Conran for Portmeirion providing 10% (2008: 11%); Pimpernel’s contribution remained at 6%.
Spode and Royal Worcester’s Christmas Tree, Blue Italian and other patterns provided 20% of sales for the year. Spode Blue Italian has now been in continuous production for nearly two centuries, but the group has also created contemporary new patterns such as Asymmetry from Spode.
Forty-three new jobs were created in 2009, bringing the total to just over 500, 479 of them in the UK.
