McBride boosts profits through UK restructuring efforts

McBride PLC, the Manchester-based manufacturer of household cleaning products such as Oven Pride and LimeLite, has increased its profits and slashed costs despite difficult conditions in its core markets.

In the 12 months ending June 30, the firm saw its adjusted operating profit rise to £28.5m, from £22m the year previous.

The company’s operating results have been boosted by efforts to restructure its UK business since June last year. When considered on a constant currency basis, the firm’s overall operating costs were slashed by £3.3m.

The UK restructuring project, alongside lower depreciation, delivered an additional £5.6m to the firm’s coffers.

Now, McBride believes the restructuring will provide £12m in annualised benefits by June 30 2016. Additionally, the company has predicted that full-year savings in 2016 will hit £4.9m, which is £3m ahead of its initial target.

McBride’s CEO, Rik De Vos, said: “Despite the extremely tough retail environment, the Group has reported revenues broadly flat and an encouraging improvement in operating profits, achieved primarily through reduced costs.

“The Group has made a satisfactory start to the new financial year with the benefits of cost reduction programmes evident. The result of our strategy review is being announced today, and we are excited about the opportunities available to the Group to utilise its scale more effectively to seek to deliver growth in operating profit margin.

He added: “We have commenced our transformation plan and the McBride team is now embarking on a period of change to reposition McBride for a more sustainable future.”

Sales of products in the company’s Private Label brand category were up by 0.5%.

Weak trading at home saw McBride’s UK revenue drop by 4.8%, while in Western Europe, the firm’s revenues rose by 3.5%. However, the latter figures were buoyed by revenue growth of 30% in Germany, while revenues in France, Spain and Italy all dropped between 4% and 9%.

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