McBride underwhelms with full-year profit guidance, shares drop

Shares in McBride dropped on Tuesday, pulling back after an impressive surge so far this year, as the cleaning goods manufacturer underwhelmed with annual profit guidance in a pre-close trading update.

The company, which makes mostly white-label cleaning and hygiene products but has a small number of its own household brands, said profits for the year to 30 June are expected to be in line with recently upgraded forecasts, with company compiled consensus showing an adjusted operating profit of £66.4m.

Back in April, McBride said adjusted operating profit would be around 10% ahead of consensus at the time which stood at £61m, so Tuesday's update may have disappointed investors somewhat.

Shares were down around 7.5% at 131p by 0921 BST. McBride's stock has soared over the past 12 months, rising by more than 300%, and had jumped nearly 70% in the year-to-date prior to Tuesday's update.

The company said full-year revenues were up 6.2% at constant currencies, driven by business wins and strong demand increases on existing private label contracts.

Net debt is expected to have come in at £131.5m at the year-end date, down £14.2m from the half-year stage but slightly above the current market forecast of £129m.

"The group is pleased to confirm that it has delivered the expected strong financial and operational performance, building on the significant improvement achieved in financial year 2023," the statement said.