LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Pottery company Portmeirion's full-year results came in ahead of recently upgraded market expectations, driven by a "strong" second-half trading performance and a return to profitability.
Portmeirion said on Thursday that group revenue had slipped 5.3% to £87.9m in 2020, a performance it branded as being "resilient" against a backdrop of enforced retail shutdowns.

The AIM-listed firm reported a headline pre-tax profit of £1.4m, down from £7.4m a year earlier, while underlying earnings more than halved from £11.4m in 2019 to £5.1m.

Portmeirion paid or proposed no dividends for 2020 but stated that it expects to recommence dividend payments in 2021, assuming a return to normalised trading.

The group also highlighted that its strong balance sheet had been maintained, with net cash of £700,000, a marked turnaround from the net debt of £12.3m reported at the same time a year earlier, mostly due to an £11.2m fundraiser completed in June 2020.

Chief executive Mike Raybould said: "Although 2020 was a challenging year due to the huge disruption caused by Covid-19, our consumer homeware brands have shown great resilience and our business has continued to successfully pivot further to online sales.

"We are encouraged to see our positive trading momentum from H2 2020 continue in Q1 2021 despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We remain alert to further potential disruption in our key markets, but are confident of returning to growth in 2021."

As of 0825 GMT, Portmeirion shares were up 2.95% at 589.40p.

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