‘Challenging period’ takes its toll on profits at Ultimate Products

Revenues and profits have declined in the year to July 31, 2024 at Oldham-based homeware brands giant, Ultimate Products in what the firms CEO described as a “challenging period.”

Total revenues were down 6.5% to £155.5m (FY23: £166.3m), with supermarket ordering being held back by overstocking, weakened consumer demand for general merchandise, and strong prior year results.

International sales increased 7% to £54.3m (FY23: £50.7m), driven by an increase in sales to European discounters, while statutory profit before tax was down 10% to £14.3m (FY23: £16.0m). The full year dividend per share was maintained at 7.38p per share.

During the period, the group opened its new European showroom in Paris, helping to grow sales in France by 78% to £12m.

It also appointed Andrew Gossage as CEO, taking over from the group’s founder, Simon Showman, who remains on the board as CCO, Christine Adshead as non-executive chair, and Andrew Milne and José Carlos González-Hurtado as new non-executive directors. Milne has since been appointed chair of the remuneration committee, and González-Hurtado chair of the ESG committee.

Although weak UK consumer sentiment continues to hold back short term sales in the UK, the group said it is pleased to see growing momentum internationally, with strong demand for its homeware brands being driven by European discounters.

Chief executive Gossage, said: “This continues to be a challenging period for many consumer-facing businesses in the UK, and we are by no means immune from the overall slowdown in spending and weakness in consumer sentiment.

“However, our growth strategy of building international sales is yielding positive results. Our new showroom in Paris is proving to be instrumental in developing our presence throughout the hugely attractive European market, where we see significant opportunity with the discounters that are driving strong European sales growth in the current year.”

He added: “Against this backdrop, we are pleased to have delivered a resilient FY24 performance while making strong operational progress, including increased productivity through the automation of many of our processes and the rebrand of our two iconic principal brands, Salter and Beldray.

“Our proposition to retailers today is clear and compelling. We offer trusted brands, beautiful products, attractive price points, and outstanding operational capabilities. Despite current headwinds, we remain cautiously optimistic for FY25 as a whole and as confident as ever in our medium-to-long term prospects.”

Ultimate is home to household name homewares brands including Salter and Beldray.

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