Homewares manufacturer launches in £10m share placing

Portmeirion, the homewares firm behind the the Portmeirion, Spode, Royal Worcester, Pimpernel, Wax Lyrical and Nambé brands, has launched a share placing to raise £10m.

The firm says it will use the cash to boost its ecommerce offering after seeing the trends for growth in this area during the Covid-19 pandemic. It will also spend on its Wax Lyrical brand, build its presence in Canada and “invest in manufacturing efficiences” in the UK.

Portmeirion’s share price began a slump in February of this year when it was at a healthy 765p. During March it reached lows of 240p, and, although it has recovered slightly, it remains mostly flat at 396p.

In its latest accounts, posted just before lockdown in March, the Stoke-on-Trent company said group revenue increased by 3.6% to £92.8 million (2018: £89.6 million) but that the actions taken to protect its brands in the South Korean market resulted in a reduction in like-for-like sales and profit in 2019, with headline profit before tax of £7.4 million (2018: £9.7 million) and like-for-like revenue falling by 5.1% to £85.0 million (2018: £89.6 million).