McBride encourages with future growth prospects

5th Jul 2013 14:23

McBride, the maker of retail home-brand household and personal care products, saw revenue decline in the year to June, in line with expectations. A year-end trading update from the group showed its contract manufacturing segment fell 27% as it gradually winds down as planned, but this dragged down total group revenues by 5.0% on a constant currency basis.This was despite private label full-year revenue bouncing back after a slow start and a 2.0% decline at the interim stage to close in line with the prior year.Revenue from the Core and Future Growth categories delivered 3.0% growth compared to the prior year, benefitting from new launches during the second half.Broker Panmure Gordon said the revenues decline should see to £760m in the September 3rd results and has thus downgraded earnings per share forecasts 3.0% but was encouraged by the acceleration in revenue growth in the last two months. Analyst Damian McNeela said: "McBride has endured a challenging year with the loss of a substantial amount of contract manufacturing business, a deterioration in most Western European consumer markets and a period of intense promotional activity in the UK."Despite this, he has been encouraged by the acceleration in revenue growth through the second half of Core and Future segments and said he believed this momentum should carry forward into in the new financial year and contribute to strong earnings growth. Shares in McBride were up 1.1% at 118.25p at 16:05 on Friday.OH