Hornby seeing strong recovery

31st Mar 2010 07:27

Toy racing car and train set maker Hornby said it is now seeing a strong recovery and is confident of reporting a solid full year performance. "Order intake in the first three months of 2010 has been extremely encouraging, which gives us confidence that we are set to deliver a solid performance in the year to 31 March 2011," the group said in a company statement.It added that consumer demand for its products has held up well over the past year, resulting in low inventories both in its business and at the retail/distributor level. "We enter the new financial year in a significantly stronger position," Hornby added. "Our retail customers are more confident about the future and both serious new enquiries and firm orders are growing."Chairman Neil Johnson commented, "A year ago we were facing three major challenges: a fragile supply chain, reduced demand from our retailers and an unfavourable sterling/dollar exchange rate. Today, we have much improved visibility and control over the supply chain, retailers are hungry for our products and we have secured the bulk of our currency requirements for the year to 31 March 2011 at favourable rates."