Walker Greenbank gets £8m insurance payment for factory flood

Luxury interior furnishings group Walker Greenbank said on Tuesday that it has received an interim insurance payment of £8m related to the flooding last year at its Standfast & Barracks fabric printing factory in Lancaster.

The company, whose brands include Sanderson and Harlequin, said the payment was in respect of damage to printing machinery, stock and other business assets and loss of profits.

Its insurance policy covers flood damage and business interruption for a two-year period and a further interim payment will be made in due course.

Chief executive John Sach said: "We are making good progress with the recovery plan following the flooding at Standfast & Barracks.

"We expect that full digital printing capacity will be restored by early April and that the majority of the factory's total printing capacity will be back on stream by the end of April."

Walker said digital fabric printing began at Standfast towards the end of last month on a like-for-like replacement machine and customer shipments are starting this week

The three other machines are being replaced with next generation digital printers with higher throughput and capabilities and the first of these is expected to be in full production shortly.

The company warned in December that full year pre-tax profit would be around 15% lower than market expectations due to disruption caused by flooding at Standfast & Barracks.

At 1525 GMT, shares in the company were up 0.1% to 205.15p.