19th May 2016 09:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - Portmeirion Group PLC on Thursday said its sales for the first four months of 2016 dipped slightly due to its South Korean market not recovering as expected, but said its full year pretax profit is still expected to be in line with market expectations.
The homewares manufacturer said its two largest markets, the US and UK, have performed better in the first four months of 2016 than they did a year earlier, though added that its operations in South Korea "have not recovered as we had expected".
In a statement to be made at the company's annual general meeting on Thursday, Non-Executive Chairman Dick Steele said total sales were 2.0% lower than the same period the previous year.
"We have also experienced an unexpected decrease in demand from some of our other Asian markets," Steele said, although noted this does not look to be "a permanent trend".
"We are taking action in response to the decrease in demand and we are confident that this, combined with our recent acquisition of Wax Lyrical, will provide overall growth for the group this year. Consequently, we expect profit before tax to be in line with market expectations for the full year," Steele added.
Shares in Portmeirion were down 4.9% at 1,205.00 pence on Thursday.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Portmeirion