COLEFAX GROUP PLC
(“Colefax” or the “Group”)
Preliminary Results for the year ended 30 April 2023
Colefax is an international designer and distributor of furnishing fabrics & wallpapers and owns a leading interior decorating business. The Group trades under five brand names, serving different segments of the soft furnishings marketplace; these are Colefax and Fowler, Cowtan & Tout, Jane Churchill, Manuel Canovas and Larsen.
Key Points
· Sales increased by 3% to £104.80m (2022 – £101.8m) but down by 3% on a constant currency basis due to lower Decorating Division sales
· Pre-tax profit decreased by 21% to £8.54m (2022 – £10.82m) – mainly due to lower Decorating Division profits following an exceptional performance in the prior year
· Earnings per share decreased by 13% to 89.7p (2022 – 102.5p)
· Share buyback returned £5.4m of surplus capital to shareholders in September 2022.
· Cash at 30 April 2023 of £19.8m (2022 – £21.8m)
· Fabric Division sales increased by 9.5% to £92.51m (2022 – £84.51m) and by 1.5% on a constant currency basis
– US sales down by 1%, UK sales up by 1% and Europe sales up by 7% (on a constant currency basis)
· Decorating Division sales decreased by 35% to £9.52m (2022 – £14.63m) following an exceptional prior year performance. Pre-tax loss of £96,000 (2022 – £1.47m profit)
· Board is proposing a final dividend of 2.8p (2022 – 2.7p) making a total for the year of 5.4p (2022 – 5.2p)
David Green, Chief Executive of Colefax Group plc, said:
“The Group has delivered another strong performance achieving record Fabric Division sales against a record prior year. We benefitted from a strong US Dollar and a continuation of the home decorating boom triggered by the pandemic but have also had to deal with high levels of cost inflation in all areas of the business.
“The performance of the Group lags activity in the high-end housing market and we do expect trading conditions to become progressively more challenging as steep interest rate increases start to have an impact in the US and the UK. These expectations are factored into our current year market forecast.“
Enquiries:
| Colefax Group plc | David Green, Chief Executive | Tel: 020 7318 6021 |
| Rob Barker, Finance Director | ||
| KTZ Communications | Katie Tzouliadis, Robert Morton | Tel: 020 3178 6378 |
| Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Advisor and Broker) | Adrian Trimmings, Andrew Clark | Tel: 020 7418 8900 |