Luxury furnishings group Walker Greenbank is eyeing the American market after lifting annual pre-tax profits 119 per cent to £3.1 million.

The AIM-quoted company, whose opulent curtains supplied to the ex-Lord Chancellor hit the headlines a few years ago, increased turnover by a more modest 15 per cent to £62.45 million last year. Greenbank, whose brands include Sanderson, Morris & Co, Harlequin and Zoffany, halved its gearing 35 per cent and grew shareholders’ funds 60 per cent to nearly £21 million.

Chief executive John Sach says, as well as exploiting its existing brand strengths, the company intends to expand its fledgling contract furnishing business and ‘evaluate acquisition opportunities’. An overseas push will focus on North America, ‘where our group is currently immature relative to our peers’, and on other under-exploited markets in Europe and elsewhere.

Walker Greenbank shares, surged from a depressed 9.75p in 2005 to 56.5p last October, but have wavered since then. Now 42.5p, up 1.5p today, they value the company at £25 million.

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Walker Greenbank	AIM	£10.03m	17.00p	0.00p
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