Portmeirion delivers 'excellent' seasonal trading performance

Homewares distributor Portmeirion Group said on Wednesday that it had experienced an "excellent Christmas seasonal trading period", with "very high" global demand for consumer brands and strong sell-through across its key channels.

Portmeirion stated it now expects full-year sales to be at least £104.0m, or 10% above current consensus market expectation forecasts, 18% above 2020 sales of £87.9m and 12% ahead of pre-Covid sales of £92.8m in 2019.

As a result, the AIM-listed firm now anticipates full-year pre-tax profits will be at least £7.0m, an increase of 9% over current consensus market expectations and a marked increase when compared to the £1.4m reported in 2020.

Portmeirion highlighted that its full-year trading performance represented "the highest ever level of sales for the group", driven by "strong progress" on its strategy in developing new sales channels, particularly online.

Chief executive Mike Raybould said: "We are mindful of ongoing Covid risks and their potential impact on sales markets, global supply chains and the associated cost inflation, particularly in container shipping. We expect further growth in 2022 and with the current uncertainty will wait to update the market with detail on the outlook for the current financial year at the time of the preliminary results in March. Looking forward we continue to navigate these uncertainties and remain confident in our ability to improve margins over the longer term and grow the business strongly in the future."

As of 1015 GMT, Portmeirion shares had shot up 10.48% to 685.0p.