Companies: VCP   

Even in the face of dwindling consumer spending, carpet maker Victoria has swum against the tide in the UK and delivered a creditable third successive year of growth.

Formed in Scotland as a tapestry weaver back in 1895, Victoria has since relocated to Kidderminster and is now a highly efficient manufacturer, with low staff costs due to its state-of-the-art machinery. This last year to March, the group’s operations in the UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada increased revenues 11.3% to £61.7m and profits by 27% before tax to £3.5m. A final dividend of 14p per share was proposed.

That the core UK business has grown in a ‘challenging’ market, says chief executive Alan Bullock, demonstrates the company’s ‘ability to gain market share from the competition’, with sales having risen by 6.8% and operating profits by 9.8%. Performance in Australia was even stronger, with Victoria rolling sales up 20% and profits 47% as the economy there remained robust – Victoria has even begun a £3.9m investment programme to capitalise on its strong position.

The Canadian arm enjoyed a productive period against a stable economic backdrop, while Ireland’s ‘mixed’ fortunes produced a fall in sales but a slight improvement in profits. Macroeconomic concerns cloud the outlook, especially in the UK and Ireland, even though gearing was reduced by ten percentage points to 23.4%.

Although Victoria has managed to weather the cooling conditions in its core domestic market, with wider economic forecasts bleak and the stock market an increasingly harsh critic of consumer-facing companies, the shares are best avoided, for the time being at least.

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Victoria	LSE	£8.78m	126.50p	5.00p
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