Portmeirion reports ‘cautious’ optimism

Portmeirion Group, the designer, manufacturer and worldwide distributor of homewares under the Portmeirion, Spode, Royal Worcester, Pimpernel, Wax Lyrical and Nambé brands has reported cautious optimism for the first half of its financial year.

The firm says sales for the first half will be at least £45m, up from £43.1m last year.

With consumers facing increasing cost of living inflationary pressures, together with the impact of the Ukraine war on raw material prices, global supply chain issues and weaker sales markets, the firm says it remains “cautious” as it enters its second half trading period.

Mike Raybould, chief executive, said: “The benefit of our diversified sales markets, strong brands and the ongoing strategic investment in productivity, automation and efficiency has mitigated much of the increasingly challenging market conditions and input cost inflation during H1. However, we have also seen retail customers react to the economic environment by de-stocking in the first half and we remain cautious to the risk of further declines in consumer and retailer confidence for our key second half trading period.

“We have an exciting pipeline of product launches planned for H2 and looking forward we will continue to invest in our long term strategy which we are confident will deliver long term sales growth together with improved operating margins.”