Waterford sees signs of recovery

12 April 2012

LUXURY goods group Waterford Wedgwood sounded a cautiously upbeat note on Wednesday despite the gloomy economic climate. The global downturn and 11 September has hurt profits at the Irish firm as people decide against splashing out on crystal, ceramics and other luxury items.

Waterford said conditions continued to be tough during the start of 2002, and forecast a 'similar environment' this month. The update appeared to disappoint the City and shares in the group eased 1 1/2 p to 41p.

Yet despite the downbeat note, Waterford remained tentatively optimistic about its long-term future.

Chairman Sir Anthony O'Reilly said: 'Although trading conditions remain difficult, it is fair to say that some green shoots are beginning to appear.

'A combination of a continuing improvement in economic conditions and leaner retailer inventories, together with our creative marketing, new product development and new distribution strategies will, we believe, generate improving earnings and cash performance as the year progresses.'

Waterford announced last year it was cutting 1,400 jobs as part of an overhaul to lower operating costs, cut capacity, improve factory efficiency and reduce inventories.

Sir Anthony said the restructuring was on track to produce annual savings of 43m euros (£27.7m) from 2003, while cash outflow had been reduced by nearly 38m euros (£24.5m).

Group sales in the first quarter were 207.2m euros (£133.7m) and pre-tax losses came in at 16m euros (£10.3m).

The group is changing its year end from December to March, so has not posted comparative figures. In 2001, total sales came in at 1.01bn euros (£651.6m) while pre-tax losses came in at 43.3m euros (£27.9m).

Waterford UK's operations include sites in Stoke-on-Trent while a crystal plant in Stourbridge is closing as part of the overhaul.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in